The African country complies with the European regulations required by Spain.

South African authorities have informed the Ministry of Fisheries and Food that they have decided to lift the veto that they maintained towards Spanish ports in the export of citrus. Through a statement, the South African authorities have stated their objective to “amend the additional declarations for the phytosanitary certificates that were issued during June 2020 for South African citrus who were destined for Spanish ports.”

The document acknowledges that “the South African national plant protection organization received information from the industry, that citrus shipments were detained in the ports of Spain due to the information apparently omitted from the phytosanitary certificates” and that, therefore “It has drawn attention that Spain requires additional declarations different from those agreed with other member states.”

The Spanish ports were vetoed by the South African Government for the entry of their citrus exports at the beginning of the campaign, when Spain required to SA (as already requested to other citrus exporting countries), the phytosanitary certificate for citrus, in which must be stated, literally, that the country is exempt from the pests indicated by the European Commission.

This situation has been causing serious damage to importing and exporting companies, and freight forwarders in the port of Algeciras, where this market has become especially important in recent years.

Source: FreshPlaza.com