has launched the South African organic citrus season with Starruby grapefruits from the Orange River area. Subsequently a weekly supply of organic South African citrus will arrive at Van den Bos Freshpartners in Poeldijk, warehousing partner of OTC.This season a turbulent season preparation preceded: the European Citrus Black Spot (CBS) import restrictions and increased controls of last season have been of major influence on the operational process of the South African inspection authorities. “Our growers in the Eastern Cape needed to make a major effort to get the farms approved for export to Europe”, Edward Out says. Edward is responsible for purchase in South Africa. “Fortunately, almost all registered EU farms passed the first round of inspections. We expect the first organic lemons from the Sundays River region to arrive around the beginning of June.” However this means that a significant proportion of organic production is not allowed to be exported to Europe, because these orchards might be infected with CBS.
In addition to the CBS restrictions that have affect the supply from the Eastern Cape, we also expect less supply due to frost damage in the fruiting end of 2013. “However we have good hope that we can offer a continuous supply of organic grapefruits, lemons and oranges because of the various growing regions”, according to Edward Out. “The limited supply will inevitably lead to an increased price. Therefore we can assist our suppliers in mitigating the loss of income caused by CBS and frost.” The request of organic citrus in the summer is high: “Because of expanding acreage of our suppliers the coming years we expect to be able to meet the needs of the market better. But first we need to get through the upcoming season. There is still a risk that the EU restricts the import of South African citrus from areas where CBS occurs. For that reason we follow the developments in Brussels closely, like many fellow importers.”
