The association of horticultural companies, Asociafruit, a company based in Seville which brings together most of the companies in the citrus sector of Andalusia, claims that the European Commission "is ignoring" Spanish citrus growers and prioritising the interests of certain European lobbies. Orange growing entrepreneurs in this region are thus joining their colleagues in Valencia in their demands, with both companies and agrarian organizations asking Brussels for greater phytosanitary controls on imports, especially from South Africa.
South Africa is the world's second largest exporter of fresh citrus fruits, only behind Spain, and its oranges arrive in a number of European Union (EU) countries at an increasingly cheaper price, despite the distance between the countries. The main reasons may be the lower production costs, given its increasingly larger and modernised farms, and the progressive reduction of tariffs by EU authorities; tariffs which are slated to disappear altogether within nine years, after the recent agreement between the EU and the countries of Southern Africa, approved by the European Parliament.
Asociafruit is deeply concerned about the suspension of phytosanitary controls on South African citrus fruits, as well as the of threat of the entry into the EU of the so-called black spot disease, which has spread in South Africa and which could seriously affect Spain's citrus production. In fact, the pest has already been detected in countries like the United States and Brazil.
The Andalusian citrus sector is planning to initiate actions to control the phytosanitary safety of fruits imported from South Africa.
