With South Africa's citrus season still on the horizon, producers face a year of balances between quality control and strict export standards, Mouton Citrus' marketing manager Rikus Groenewald said.

"To comply with requirements of the market, as well as producing the quality of fruit that (Europe) wants, it’s becoming increasingly difficult," he explained to www.freshfruitportal.com.

"It’s almost a mismatch. You need certain treatments to produce certain quality of fruit. It is easy if they substitute but there is no substitute.

"It very difficult to do the treatments but at the same time have the (maximum residue) level towards the requirement of the market. That is an unfortunate thing. We must farm organically but not produce organically."

Some regions of South Africa face greater export challenges than others, however. Zones impacted by false codling moth and black spot must meet increasingly strict phytosanitary standards from the European Union.

"At the end of the day, it’s about what production area you’re in. The other big thing for Europe is they want to impose cold storage for false codling moth which is a very costly process. They want to impose certain restrictions on black spot areas and that is another threat for certain production areas," he said.

"We fortunately are not affected (in the Western Cape) and it is business like usual. There are definitely areas and for them it is unfortunate additional measurements and certain protocol they need to put in place."

Mouton Citrus has also been fortunate to the avoid labor unrest that has shaken the Western Cape. Currently in the off-season, the exporter is down to permanent staff, avoiding demonstrations that have impacted seasonal workers most of all.

For the moment, one of the region's major concerns has been strong winds that could hurt the outer appearance of its fruit down the road.

A clearer forecast for the citrus season will be available toward the end of February.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2011 South Africa produced 1,496,160 tons (MT) of oranges, 260,002 MT of lemons and limes, and 415,679 MT of grapefruit.

www.freshfruitportal.com