For the second consecutive year, Intercitrus, the Spanish Citrus Interprofessional, has shouted to the sky. The reason, again, that South African citrus exporters do not comply – for the most part – a regulation of the European Union regarding the treatment of citrus.
As happened in 2022, Intercitrus explains that South African producers do not apply the cold treatment or cold treatment that the European Union requires to avoid the spread of the false moth (Thaumatotibia leucotreta), a lepidopteran of African origin that has arrived in Europe on several occasions in imports of contaminated plant material.
A plant material that, as Intercitrus denounces, there is no remedy in South Africa, a country whose citrus exports to Europe amount to nearly 650,000 tons annually, thus making it the second largest producer by volume—only behind Spain—and which is not remedying the proliferation of this false moth, as explained from Agronomist.
This is reported by Intercitrus, which alleges that South Africa returns, for the second consecutive year, to not comply with the rules that the European Union set to avoid the spread of the false moth.
It is about, explains to various media Immaculate Sanfeliu, president of Intercitrus, “of an approved regulation that is unambiguous, leaves no room for interpretation and its compliance is easily verifiable.” To which she furthermore alleges that “it is obvious that South Africa is finding allies in the EU to not respect what is regulated“.
A Citrus Trojan Horse
It refers to a legal loophole that is being found by the connivance of ports and community authorities. In this case, Cold treatment requires that a temperature of -0.5º Celsius be reached in the central part of the fruits, which guarantees the elimination of the larvae. However, the reality, as Intercitrus alleges, is that the container is cooling, taking this reference as valid and not the fruits.
In this way, South African oranges arrive in Europe endorsing this phytosanitary certificate, where in certain ports the three pulp surveys that the European Union requires are not being registered where, in addition, it is the Dutch port of Rotterdam through which two thirds of South African oranges enter. To understand this, Europe imported no less than 400,000 tons of oranges from South Africa in 2022.
Once that orange is in Europe, it can circulate normally. Similarly, Intercitrus also protests that cold treatment is only applied to orangessince they consider that tangerines and grapefruits can also be vectors of transmission.
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Furthermore, Intercitrus has already complained on other occasions medals that South Africa hangs when it comes to marketing its citrus, how to collect Murcia Economy, where they echo the black spot, another pest that affects South African citrus and where they accuse South African producers of “cynicism” when they announce shorter campaigns linked to sustainability that, in reality, are preventive measures against greater outbreaks of potential pests.
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