South Africa's cautious stance on citrus exports appears to have paid off in June, with zero interceptions of citrus black spot disease (CBS) in the European Union.

The latest report from the European Union Notification System for Plant Health Interceptions (EUROPHYT) shows there weren't any interception of the CBS plant pathogen Guignardia Citricarpa in the bloc; not just from South Africa but from any origin.

It was a different story in June last year, when South Africa's record was still clean but there was one interception of the pathogen in Brazilian oranges and two interceptions in Argentine lemons.

However, it was in the months of July to October in 2013 that interceptions of Guignardia Citricarpa picked up.

In terms of all destination markets in the season to week 28, South Africa had shipped slightly less grapefruit shipments at 12 million cartons, and around 15% fewer Navel oranges at 12.5 million cartons.

In contrast, soft citrus exports had risen 12.5% to 6.3 million cartons and lemon shipments had increased 16.7% to 8.4 million cartons.

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