B
ring the RBtthem hemisphere winter months
Spanish dominate the European markets, while
~ u t Africa
h
dominate in their summer months.
The only time that the two compete is at the
ange over between the southern and northern
rn~sphereseasons.
he competition during this period varies depehding on
the respedive volumes and timing of the crop. Jn 2007
the change over fmm South scan to Spanish citrus
roblematic, with large volumes of valencias entering the
mpean market in the w& leading up to the duty deadline
m 15 October the duty on oranges increases from 3.2% up to
96. l h large volumes are reported to have had an impact on
rly Spanish navel orange sales, and incurred the wrath of the
banish citrus industFy. Justin Chadwick was asked to attend a
irking group on citrus organized by the Eumpean Union in
,der to explain the situation.
I
'
rerrponsible global traders it was felt appropriate to better
idetstand the issuesthat the Spanish are raising, and to carry the
message that the Spanish and southern African atrus industries
complement each other - there are more reasons for us to work
than to be confrontationalIn the Spanish citrus growing
. regions +em are &tee f m e r unions -ASAJA, COAG and UPA.
To put them into perspective, they are very much like Agri SA
in that they represent farmers from all f a g sectors (not just
atrus), and their major fundion is to lobby gwemment in thebest
. ~tsoftheirfarmermembers.
l'resentationscovedtwoaeas
;
that had been wised as concerns of the Spanish citrus industry
: -the large volume of late valenaa's enteringthe EU market (with
South African valencia's still on sale in Spain in December 2W7%
and the intemptions for atrus black spot (CB9).
It could be demonstrated that in terms of global distriitionof
oranges, theEU received a similarv t a g e (roughly 50%) as for
the previous four years - obviously thiswas a similar percentage
of a much bigger crop. The late year shipments are clear to see
'weekly shipmentsshpw a sharp spike at the end of our season.
e 2M17 spike was pronoun&, howwer there is such a spike
?ryyear as traders try and get citrus into theEU before the duty
adliie, Thee traders estimate how much citrus is needed to
lreepthemketstoekeduntilthestartoftheSpanish~.Jna
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I
lhKen in Huelw; f u n Luis Cano, Antonio Cmo,Benjamin Fauli
(myself), V~mghrm,,Justin a d Felix Sanz.
The Citrus Growers Association (CGA) decided
to send Just~nChadwick and Vaughan Hattingh
to engage with the Spanish c~trusindustry,
to confront issues of concern and explore
opportunities for joint initiatives in the future.
case Iike 2OU7 where theSpanish cropwas forrcasttobe low, molp
is imported. The message was clear - get rid ofthe duty, or move it
to theend of October, and traders would not need to speculate-if
they runshort they can get fruit from South Africa;in other words
market forses would dictate the volumes imported. This mesage
was greeted with some surprise, as f m e r unions ms actually
+g
to get the duty deadline brought earlim. It is argued that
if that was i n t r r d u d then the spike of imports would be earlier
and higher as traders would have to guess even mom* and the
fruit #old in the market before the onset of the Spanish season
would be two weeks older.
The other point that was clearly made is that last year's late
season spike in exports to Spain hurt the SA indugtry as much
(it not m o d than it did the Spanish. A lot of this fruit w a sold
at very low prices - resulin big losses for those canyirrg the
tisk South Africa n&& better infmhation from Spain to assist
in making informed decisions - in particular we need to h o w
when the Spanish season is going to kick in, and how much fruit
will be available. Jn 2007 the Spanish sent out media releases hat
the 20718 Peason would be down on previous years - as a d t
tradem felt the need to stock up with moE southern hemisphae
fruit. We need good infbrmation Of what is to happen. ?his issue
was discussed at length, and the sharing of information was
-w
SPANISH CITRUS PRODUCTION BY REGION
a weevil tha; has
many
trees in Sp&b &many more. In addition - imports of cherry tomatoas has zW&d in
a new tomato pest being inttoduced into Spain. It was said that time
new pests or diseases are introduced into Spain every year. These
ommences are used asreasonsfor heightened vigilancein importation
of citrus. Vaughan Hattingh covered phytcmnitary regulations in his
pmentation-stressingthat the meafluesintmduced mustbebased on
science. He went thmugh the process followed to datein terms of CBS,
and suggested that a conclusion to this process is in the best interests
of both countries. Spain would understand what the true risks are,
and SouthAfrica would h o w what measures are really required. ALL
p&
visited stressed the importance of managing CBS, and pointed
to the high interceptionrate in 2007 as evidence that there is a problem.
We need to take cognizance of this, and improve on control measures
and inspectibns in order to eliminate such mterceptions.
All parties agreed on the opporhmities that exist b r perat at ion
on residue issues and on the possibility of joint research. Visits were
organized to the reseanch facilities in both M d a and Valencia, and it
was found that there are many common research interests. What was
q m g is the lack of communication between the Spanish citrus
industry and these reemhers. It would seem that very few industry
players are aware of the work carried out by these researchers, and that
some really interesting and relevant lesearch is not being supported
or applied in their citrus industry. The industry pays little or nothing
towards research conducted at these research stations.
At the end of the visit citrus growing regions in Seville and Huelva
(in the south of Spainjust acrosstheborder fromPortuga1)were visited.
This is the newest area for citrus in Spain, and is vastly different from
the region around Valencia, M d a and Alicante. Citrus estates are
larger, and there is a great interest in new varieties and technologies.
There are new packhouses with newer technology. It was interesting
to note the close relationship that many South Africans have with
members of the Spanish citrus industry - it is obvious that these South
Africans are well regarded and looked upon as friends.
E USDA
This made the job of dweloping relationships a lot easier.
Whatseem~evidentisthattheatrusindustryinthispartof
Spain is set to continue expanding in the Fuhm - t h e are
many new or&&., mostly soft citrus and orangs. This is in
contrast to the Valencia area, where citrus orchards are be@
removed for building developments and golf muses. The
trend willbe anincrease in volumes out of Andaluda @uelva.
Seville), and decreasing volumes from the Valencia area.
We believe that this visit has indicated to the
Spanish cltrus industry that we are responsible
global players, prepared to confront issues and
willing to engage wlth all representatives of the
Spanish citrus Industry.
The end of the South African (beg~nning
of the Spanlsh season) has the potentla1 to
be problematic.
We need to avold over-supply~ngthe market
(especially in this period), we need to share
more information and get rid of trade distorttng
measures so that the market can do ~ t job.
s
We need to continuously Improve on our
phytosanltary controls and inspect~onsso as to
rnlnimize the occurrences of interceptions.