Dear Editor
The DA in the Western Cape calls on the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to engage with the European Union (EU) about new regulations that serve as a non-tariff barrier to citrus trade with South Africa.
The recent changes to phytosanitary standards made by the EU regarding the import of citrus from South Africa, have had an immensely negative effect on our citrus farmers in the Western Cape.
While it is understandable that the EU wants to protect its own eco-systems against False Codling Moth (FCM), the manner in which these new regulations were implemented was unreasonable and unfair.
Exporters were expected to put measures in place to comply with the new standards within three weeks, something that is completely unrealistic and led to tons of our citrus being stuck in ports in Europe, before National Government belatedly managed to salvage the situation to some extent.
According to the Citrus Growers Association this has caused over R200 million in losses to the South African citrus industry.
The new regulations seem to be motivated more by politics and protectionism than genuine concern over FCM, especially as previous regulations had already proved extremely effective.
MPP Andricus van der Westhuizen says, “The world does not need more protectionism in trade. What is needed is freer markets that allow developing economies fair access to lucrative developed markets. The DA will always support the liberalisation of markets, and call on the EU to work with developing countries when decisions regarding phytosanitary regulations and international trade are made.”
Regards
Andricus van der Westhuizen, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Agriculture
