Spanish lemon interprofessional body Ailimpo has denied accusations of protectionism over EU measures to prevent citrus black spot (CBS)spreading from South African imports to European groves.South Africa’s trade and industry minister Rob Davies made the claim last week in the wake of a decision by the country’s citrus exporters to halt shipments to Spain.
“The Spanish industry is not opposed to imports, all we want is for South Africa to comply with the controls that have been agreed by the EU,” Ailimpo director José Antonio García told Fruitnet. “It is not a trade protection issue but one of plant protection and I’m sure the South African industry would act in the same way if the roles were reversed.”
García pointed out that the conclusion reached by the European Food Safety Authority that the entry of CBS would jeopardise Europe’s 600,000ha citrus industry was based on sound science.
García said the ball was in South Africa’s court and that, provided growers there could implement effective control measures at home, they would have no problem accessing the EU market.
“It’s very easy to ignore the source of the problem and shift it onto the market but this is not a rseponsible course of action. If the 2015 season concludes with zero detections of CBS then this would be good news for the entire international citrus community and we would be the first to congratulate South Africa,” García said.
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