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15th July 2021

Brazil – Dominance over Europe after approval of the EU-Mercosur agreement?

The Spanish citrus sector is monitoring the final approval of the EU-Mercosur agreement, which is still pending its final ratification for environmental reasons. Companies, cooperatives, and agricultural organizations are worried about this change in the rules of the game between the European bloc and the bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia (the latter country is in the process of joining), as they fear the South American citrus will invade the European continent; especially the citrus from Brazil, the world’s leading orange producer –a fruit that accounts for 90% of Brazil’s citrus cultivation– and a very powerful country in the orange juice industry.

“The agreement would liberalize citrus juice imports into the EU, particularly of 100% squeezed juice, which could lead to the disappearance of the European juice industry, consequently unbalancing the fresh market and strangling the European citrus-producing sector,” stated the president of the Citrus Management Committee (CGC), Inmaculada Sanfeliu.

Spain transforms around 1.3 million tonnes of citrus fruit into juice each year. Brazil is the second-biggest producer of oranges in the world, with a production of up to 20 million tonnes. It exports over 1 billion euro in orange juice to the EU a year.

Sanfeliu has warned that the EU-Mercosur agreement threatens the value chain of the orange sector. He also said that these minimum prices will constitute an attack against the profitability of the Spanish sector. The Spanish citrus industry -a sector that has been affected for years by the EU trade agreements with South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey- has not been taken into account in the negotiations. Levante-emv

By Caroline Calder News Share: