This paved the way for the European Union regulation on False Codling Moth (FCM) announced on 24 June 2022. This protocol requires Oranges to be cooled, loaded, and shipped, with a total cooling time amounting to 25 days. With current shipping times around 18 days, ship- ments need to be cooled before or after the shipping period for an additional 7 days to reach the total requirement FCM makes prospects for oranges in EU market uncertain
of 25 days. This contributes to costs and results in one marketing week being lost. The current protocol will come to an end in December 2022. After this, an intensified protocol will commence in 2023. This will require oranges to be loaded at a lower core temperature, shipped and stored at this temperature for 20 days. Although the shorter storing time for the 2023 protocol is beneficial in terms of a loss in time during the marketing season, the local cooling capacity would likely not be sufficient to adhere to these requirements. Although the EU has implemented the mentioned protocol only on Oranges, FCM also affects soft citrus and stone fruits. Based on this, the scientific merit of the protocol is being disputed by South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Some trade experts however note that it can take up to 2 years for issues like these to be settled.
Average free on board (FOB) export prices for oranges (2012-2021) After strong growth between 2015 to 2018, orange prices seem to have stabilised betwe USD 9 and USD 10.
10,00
9,50
9,00
8,50
8,00
7,50
7,00
6,50
6,00
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019 2020
2021
Source: ITC Trademap, 2022
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