The Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa (CGA) is deeply concerned about the stalemate with Europe over the introduction of what it says are unjustified and discriminatory new False Codling Moth (FCM) regulations.An ongoing dispute over restrictions imposed by the European Union in July last year has been ongoing, with no solution on the horizon. The regulations call for extremely stringent cold storage treatment of citrus from South Africa to prevent FCM, for which the EU has zero tolerance.Over the past year, the CGA has made several calls to the government to intervene in the dispute, including requesting Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, to convene a WTO panel.“We will continue to advocate for the new regulations, which are discriminatory, unjustified and have no scientific basis, to be done away with,” said Justin Chadwick, CEO of the CGA. “It would be unconscionable if political agendas driven by the Spanish growers result in large gaps in the global supply chain, higher prices for European consumers, and most devastatingly, job and revenue losses in the local industry.”He said local producers were already challenged by a surge in farming input prices and transport costs, as well as astronomical shipping price hikes, which had made the cost of getting fruit to market commercially unviable for many growers.The introduction of the FCM regulations threatens orange exports to the EU."The impact of these regulations, should they be implemented, will see costs and loss of income of more than R500 million this year.”
