Millions of crates of oranges are spoiling in containers stranded in European ports as South Africa and the European Union lock horns in a dispute over import regulations, citrus growers said.
South Africa, the world’s second-biggest exporter of fresh citrus after Spain, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month after the EU introduced new plant and health safety requirements that orange farmers say threaten their survival.
The measures came into effect in July when ships were already at sea transporting hundreds of containers full of South African fruit to Europe, causing them to be delayed on arrival, says the South Africa Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA).
“It’s a complete disaster,” CGA CEO Justin Chadwick told AFP over the phone.
“Food that is fantastic quality and safe is (just) lying around at a time when people are concerned about food security.”
The EU rules aim to combat the potential spread of an insect called the downy codling moth, a pest native to sub-Saharan Africa that feeds on fruits such as oranges and grapefruit.
The new measures require South African farmers to subject all oranges shipped to Europe to extreme cold treatment, storing the fruit at temperatures of two degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit) or less for 25 days.
However, the CGA says this measure is unnecessary as the country already has its own, more targeted method of preventing an infestation.
South Africa argued in its WTO complaint that the EU requirements were “not scientifically based”, more restrictive than necessary and “discriminatory”.
South African citrus growers say the requirement puts undue extra pressure on an industry already in dire straits.
“It’s going to cost a lot… and no grower in the world can afford that right now,” said Hannes de Waal, manager of the nearly 100-year-old Sundays River Citrus farm.
De Waal, whose company has orange, clementine and lemon trees on 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) near the southeastern coastal town of Gqeberha, said revenues have already been squeezed by high shipping and fertilizer costs.
Freight costs have skyrocketed since the outbreak of Covid-19, as have fertilizer prices due to the war in Ukraine – Russia is one of the world’s largest producers.
– ‘Negative pressure’ –
Europe is the largest market for South Africa’s nearly $2 billion citrus industry, which accounts for 37 percent of all exports, according to the CGA.
The new rules came in at the height of the orange season in South Africa, during the southern hemisphere winter when export deals were in full swing.
This has given fruit growers too little time to adjust, Chadwick said.
About 3.2 million boxes of citrus worth about 605 million rand ($36 million) left the port with paperwork that would have been wrong on arrival.
The South African government was scrambling to issue new documents for shipments that met the new criteria, but hundreds of containers could be earmarked for destruction, Chadwick said.
South Africa already has an effective anti-moth system, the CGA says.
“While our system includes cold treatment, it is risk-focused, while the EU measure is a blanket measure that covers all oranges,” Chadwick said.
“The higher the risk, the more extreme the cold treatment,” he said of the South African measures.
The dispute is now with the WTO. The parties have 60 days to negotiate a solution. Otherwise, the complainant can request that the matter be decided by a panel of experts.
The EU was convinced of the “WTO compatibility” of its measures.
“The aim of the EU phytosanitary and sanitary criteria is to protect the territory of the Union from possible significant impacts on agriculture and the environment should this pest establish itself in the Union,” a European Commission spokesman said in a statement .
Chadwick is hoping that “reason” will prevail and a quick fix can be found.
“Our industry is under pressure. It’s basically a year of survival,” he said.
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