The leading agricultural story in the past week has been the interception in Portugal of citrus fruits from South Africa, allegedly bearing the black spot disease. Affected farmers have since petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into the matter.

South Africa has been having a phytosanitary tiff with its premier export destination, the European Union (EU), over Citrus Black Spot (CBS) since summer 2022.  Now, the citrus farmers union wants the state to mediate the issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The crux of the matter is a pest known as False Codling Moth, the agent of a fungus that blackens the prime export fruits like limes, mandarins and oranges. Many in South Africa have already termed the EU concerns over the pest as ‘false evens.’

The aseptic minimum requirements that the EU has imposed on export could see South Africa lower its European citrus shipments by 20% in 2023. This according to the Citrus Growers Association of South Africa (CGA).

 CGA’s special envoy on EU market access, Deon Joubert, says that luckily there are no substantial quantities of citrus exports held up in European ports.

Citrus plantations cover about 96,277 hectares in the country, 45% of which grow oranges. The province of Limpopo leads in production at 48% of the total orchard area, followed by Eastern Cape.

The main orange variety is the Valencia, which represents 75% of total production. 

Further afield,  South Africa is keen to boost its trade with the United States, in the face of rising challenges, not least of all the EU phytosanitary rules. The US was the sixth biggest importer of citrus from South Africa in 2022, purchasing 106.83 million worth. 

Projections by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and partners foresee a slight rise in the production of grapefruit, mandarin and tangerine, in the market year 2022-23. This is due to fair weather in the Limpopo and Cape regions. However, orange and lemon production will decrease this year as a result of lack of expansion of the orchard acreage. 

Last year, South Africa produced 1.61 million tonnes of oranges. Due to the factors such as stagnated acreage and phytosanitary controls, production for the 2022-23 market year is expected to decrease by 1% from  last year’s output to settle at 1.6 million tons.

Exports of citrus fruits almost equal the total orange production capacity in South Africa. In 2018, the country shipped 1.5 million metric tonnes to the world, which increased to 1.71 million tons in 2020, 1.84 million tons in 2021, and 1.73 million tons in end 2022, a slight reduction by 6.3%. Of all the 2022 exports, 50% went to European Union countries, namely the Netherlands, UK, Russia and Portugal, the first three of which had the largest shipments. 

The current price of citrus fruits in South Africa is ZAR 16.90 ($0.90) for oranges while grapefruits cost half that price at 8.99 ZAR due to increased production.