Cape Town - The European Union's ban on local citrus imports is an artificial trade barrier imposed at the behest of European farmers fighting for a bigger market share, AgriSA president Johannes Moller said on Friday.
He told the Cape Town Press Club the ban was motivated by reasons similar to those which resulted in Namibian agricultural produce bein barred from the EU.
“It's mainly due to the recession in Europe. They just use sanitary standards and so on as barriers and they keep out.... It is the same as what is happening with citrus at the moment.”
Moller said it had been proven that citrus black spot fungal disease, which resulted this week in the EU banning most imports of South African citrus for the rest of year, could not take hold in European conditions.
“It requires specific conditions to develop, and the countries (to) where we export don't have the right conditions, so it can't spread.
“In Europe it has been established (that) it can't spread there.”
The ban will have little economic effect on South African farmers, as the export season ends roughly around October.
However, EU nations have warned that the restrictions could be renewed in the new year if a study currently being conducted by the European Food Safety Authority shows that the fungus could infect Europe's citrus groves.
It said in June that preliminary research showed there was a moderate likelihood of it taking hold in Europe, but said it was not sure how the fungus would respond to the climate.
South Africa exports about 600 000 tons of citrus fruit, including oranges, lemons, limes and tangerines, worth about R1 billion, to Europe annually, Moller said South African citrus growers would have to look for new markets regardless of whether the ban was maintained in the new year.
This would notably include South Africa's fellow BRICS nations - Brazil, India, China and Russia.
Black spot fungus is found in many countries in the southern hemisphere, and in China and the US.
Sapa