Europe has suspended all imports of Argentine citrus until May 2021 following numerous
\ndetections of citrus black spot over recent months.
\nThe decision, which was taken unilaterally and came into effect on Sunday, applies to
\noranges, mandarins, lemons and grapefruit until April 31 next year.
\nThe European Commission justified the move by saying that it needed to protect the region’s
\ngrowers from the fungus.
\nThere were five detections of CBS in orange shipments originating from Jujuy in northern
\nArgentina in recent weeks, the EC said.
\nIn July, Argentina suspended lemon exports to Europe due to a high number of CBS
\ndetections in the market, putting an early end to the season for the overall category.
\nBut while the lemon season had at that point been winding down, the European suspension
\non imports of all Argentina citrus comes at the height of its export season.
\nThe Argentine Government has sought to negotiate with the European Commission, with
\naround 50% of the exportable citrus crop still left to be harvested.
\nAccording to Argentine newspaper La Naci\u00f3n, Argentine growers blame the Spanish citrus
\nindustry for pushing for the suspension. They also expect the move to result in losses in the
\norange sector of at least US$40m.
\nIndustry body Fedecitrus said: “The immediate damage to the national citrus industry is
\ndifficult to measure, given that it’s not just US$40m of orange exports that will be affected,
\nin addition to the effects of our early suspension of lemon exports.
\n“But over the medium-term, the damage is greater as the entry of citrus is blocked until May
\n2021 and the main overseas market for Argentine citrus is the European Union.”
\nReferring to Spain, the group said: “The attitude of the citrus growers’ and exporters’
\nassociations and the Spanish Government is very clear, and they have created an unusual
\nand arbitrary aggressiveness in Spanish ports, particularly Cartagena, which was until last
\nyear the main destination of our citrus. ”<\/p>\n
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