EU regulations could see R654 million of SA citrus destroyed

Most critically, local citrus growers currently export 800 000 tonnes of high-quality citrus fruit to the EU annually, yet FCM interceptions have been consistently low over the past three years – with 19 (2019), 14 (2020) and 15 (2021) interceptions respectively. This is in stark contrast to FCM interceptions from other 3rd importing countries, which have been much higher - with 53, 129 and 58 interceptions over the same period. However, no measures have been proposed against these countries.