DA welcomes government's intervention in the citrus export impasse
31 July 2022
The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes government’s intervention in the citrus export impasse on account of the European Union’s (EU) Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (ScoPAFF) decision to subject South African (SA’n) citrus imports to extreme cold treatment in order to mitigate and circumvent false coddling moth (FCM).
This decision has significant implications for the industry and if left unchallenged – may lead to significant job and income losses.
It was announced yesterday that the SA’n government would be lodging a trade dispute with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the EU on account of this decision.
This comes after serious disquiet amongst SA’n citrus exporters as well as a letter written by DA Federal Leader, John Steenhuisen to President Cyril Ramaphosa, asking him to intervene in this matter.