SA ready to fight EU over citrus sanctions

THE government was ready to take the European Union (EU) to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to challenge its objections to imports of South Africa's citrus fruit due to black spot‚ Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said.

South Africa‚ which earns about R3-billion a year from citrus exports‚ has informally appealed to Argentina and the US to make a combined application to the WTO as their exports have also suffered under EU sanitary and phyto-sanitary rules.

Davies told MPs this week he was convinced that the EU was using these rules as a protectionist measure to block imports because there was no scientific basis for its claim that citrus black spot (CBS) could infect European orchards.

Earlier this week, farmers from CBS-affected farms voluntarily agreed not to send their fruit to the EU in a bid to prevent a total ban on all fruit imports from South Africa. The EU has already made four interceptions over CBS and has warned of a total ban in the event of a fifth interception.

The industry and the Department of Agriculture‚ Forestry and Fisheries are in discussions with the EU to resolve the impasse.

But Davies said his expectations about what these talks would deliver were pretty low given the EU's record.

If the industry and the department did decide to use the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism‚ the department was ready to act‚ Davies said in a briefing to parliament's trade and industry portfolio committee.

"We can't just sit by idly if we are going to have to take 10 to 15% off our exports. I think this is what they [the EU] probably want‚ so some of their players can occupy that space‚" Davies said.

He stressed the importance of being tough in the negotiations.

Davies said in his experience it was only when you threatened to retaliate that you got anywhere. - Linda Ensor