South Africa

South African fruit exports to Russia declining

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According to statistics of the Federal Customs Service of Russia for 2015, the import of oranges from South Africa decreased by 40% in comparison with 2014. This year, export of SA citrus into Russia will fall even further. This is happening in spite of the countries’ leaders calling for increased fruit trade between them. In the opinion of South African and Russian businesses, the main reason for the drop in SA fruits imports to Russia was the introduction, by the Russian side, of a trade barrier in the form of a special mandatory EAC transport marking from February 2015.

By itself the marking does not contain any impossible requirements. The marking (it should be in Russian) describes the name of the product (apple or orange), country of origin, producer, exporter, importer – which is something already written in shipping documents (Bill of Lading, Certificate of Origin, Phytosanitary Certificate), but in English. It is also required to specify the period of validity of the product which is nonsense for fruits: an apple can survive a full year’s storage or rot after a couple of weeks if bitten by a worm. Such a sticker can be printed by South Africans, but often with mistakes, because Russian is not a dispersed language in the country. What is worse is that the EAC sticker must be affixed on each carton, but this does not fit with the technology of fruit preparation and sending them for export adopted in South Africa. According to the existing technology of work with perishable products, as soon as they are harvested and packed they must be delivered to cold storages in ports of loading. They are brought in already mounted and slashed on pallets to ensure safety of cargo during the long sea voyage to the client. Name and address of the concrete receiver will be often made certain at the last moment before the pallets go into the vessel or container. To break the pallets, fix stickers on each carton – there are minimum seventy on a pallet – and then again slash the pallets is not possible in conditions of port cold storages. Big exporters working under programs with big Russian importers can fix stickers at pack houses. It’s costly, but technically possible. But it is not possible for medium and small farms and exporters who work on spot basis and they are forced to leave the Russian market.

www.freshplaza.com, www.fruitnews.info

Russian import of South African oranges – 30% less

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According to the official statistics from the Russian government, last year 30 percent fewer oranges were imported from South Africa than in 2014. Russian president Putin and his South African colleague Zuma had called for increased trade in August. According to traders, a stricter measure for trade is the main cause for the decrease. Since February 2015, an EAC mark is needed. The mark consists of a sticker with information about the grower and the product in Russian. Since Russian is an unknown language in South Africa, many errors are still made with the marks.

www.freshplaza.com

South Africa main supplier citrus to Russia

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South Africa has become the main supplier of fruit, particularly citrus, to Russia. About a quarter of all oranges on the Russian market come from South Africa. Since the trade between the nations was initiated twenty years ago, not a single shipment has been rejected on phytosanitary grounds, according to Mikhail Fateev, head of the food and agriculture department of the Russia-RSA Business Council.

South African growers may have a problem, Technical Regulations for “Food production labeling” introduced by Eurasian Economic Commission and due for full enforcement in Russia from February 15, 2015, are difficult, expensive and in some cases impossible for implementation by SA Fruit industry. It is technologically not possible to carry out EAC labels sticking in ports of shipment without destruction of pallets prepared for long oceanic travel. Neither it’s possible to stick labels on cartons at packing houses: Fruits are packed for exports without correlation to a specific market.

www.freshplaza.com

Peak of South African apple exports to Russia

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According to Fruit-Inform, the peak of South African apple exports to Russia was registered in May.
The South African apple export season traditionally starts in March with largest exports to Russia being registered in May-July.
South Africa has been steadily increasing apple exports to the Russian Federation in the current season. In May 2013, Russia purchased 2,200 tonnes of South African apples, 60% more compared with the same month of the previous year. Russia’s cumulative imports of apples from South Africa in the period from March to May amounted to 2,700 tonnes, an increase of 50% year-on-year.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia: Citrus prices hit rock bottom due to oversupply

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Stas Poluektov, representative of the Russian importer Eurofruit-SPb, assured that the citrus market in Russia (particularly mandarins and limes) is in a much worse situation than last year. Stas says that “due to an oversupply of citrus in the Russian market, prices have been too low. There is too much fruit in the market, which has had a great impact on prices.”

One of the main reasons why there is too much citrus in the Russian market is because of the great volume of citrus imported from South Africa, which has affected Argentinian citrus and the industry as a whole. Those most benefited from this oversupply have been the Russian consumers, who have had much cheaper fruit due to the huge supply.

Eurofruit-SPb expects to continue importing Argentinian citrus until the end of October, and if necessary, the season will be extended until November.  Stas Poluektov expects the market to stabilise in August, which is when better prices are expected for Argentinian citrus.

Source: www.freshplaza.com