South African authorities have told the Spanish Ministry of Fisheries and Food that they have decided to lift their veto on Spanish ports for the export of citrus fruits. The South African authorities have released a statement saying that they will "amend the additional declarations for the phytosanitary certificates that were issued during June 2020 for the South African citrus fruits that were intended for Spanish ports."
The statement says that "the South African plant protection agency was informed by the industry that citrus shipments in Spanish ports had been blocked due to seemingly missing information in the plant protection certificates." It was said to be striking that Spain requested additional declarations, in addition to those agreed with the other EU Member States.
Spanish ports were vetoed by the South African Government for the entry of their citrus exports at the beginning of the campaign, when the Spanish Government asked South Africa (like other citrus exporting countries) for the SA phytosanitary certificate for citrus. In that certificate, it had to be literally stated that the country was 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: elestrechodigital.com
