South Africa's 2014 Citrus Imports into The USA

[Millet]

The Gloucester Marine Ship Terminal, 30 miles north of Boston, is the ship terminal where South Africa's 2014 citrus imports are entering the USA.  This orange season South Africa is scheduled to import between 30,000 to 40,000 pallets of oranges into the USA.  The first shipment of 3,400 pallets of oranges arrived June 10th on board the the freighter Green Italia. - Millet

[Scott_6B]

That's a bit surprising.  I didn't think the harbor in Gloucester could accommodate larger trans-oceanic ships. 


Edit:  Looks like the S.A. citrus are going into Gloucester City, NJ, not Gloucester, MA:

http://www.producenews.com/news-dep-menu/test-featured/13426-south-african-citrus-arrives-at-gloucester-marine-terminal

[Millet]

Thanks Scott for the correction - Millet

[Millet]

This is interesting.  USA is importing South African citrus, and the EU bans citrus from South Africa due to disease problems.....

The European Union  (EU) on Thursday banned most imports of South African citrus for the rest of the current year. The move came amid fears that a fungal disease that were found in dozens of shipments from South Africa which could spread to the 28-nation bloc. Thirty-six citrus consignments had been intercepted earlier this year from the EU's chief summer supplier. Fruit contaminated with the black spot disease is currently not found in Europe at all. The introduction of citrus black spot into the EU territory would pose a serious threat to the EU's citrus-producing areas," Brussels said in a statement. "For that reason, it's necessary to further restrict the import. The EU executive said the ban would apply to all South African citrus shipments from regions where the disease was present, meaning the bulk of the country's production would be affected. - Millet

[nickytwo]

The top farms like zebedelia was given to other owners affirmative action Beee or what you want to call it.......from 15 000 crates to zero....all export prior 1994

[citrange]

As I didn't understand the above post, I did a little research to make it clearer for me and anyone else who missed the clues.

First, 'Zebedalia' was a top exporting citrus farm in South Africa.

'BEE' means Black Economic Empowerment. Also known as 'afirmative action.'

From what is probable a very biassed website (http://www.rense.com/general51/southafricacalamity.htm) comes this article:

The Zebediela Citrus Estate came into possession of the South African Government in 1974. It was hugely prosperous until then. Thereafter it grew to what was described as "the diamond of agricultural projects". The Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa (1978) wrote "Nearly 400 million oranges are harvested each year from the groves of Zebediela, the world's biggest citrus estate. At the height of the season about 15,000 cases of oranges leave Zebediela every day. The fruit comes from more than 565,000 trees irrigated by enough water to supply a city. The whole estate is highly mechanised and many of the most advanced handling techniques in world citrus production have originated from Zebediela"
 
In 1994, Zebediela was placed under the control of the Agricultural and Rural Development Corporation (ARDC). This newly-formed ANC administration, ruined not only the R30 million per year harvest of Zebediela, but 'scores of other agricultural projects in the area' as well.
 
Corruption, theft and maladministration ensured that by 2001 the estate of 2260 hectares (ha) was reduced to 800 hectares. 'Hundreds of thousands of oranges and lemons were not harvested, and workers were not paid. R8 million worth of lemons were left to rot. 50 tractors fell into disrepair. Managers with 40 years experience were replaced by people who knew nothing of farming.

However, someone in South Africa is clearly still producing enough citrus to export large quantities to the US!

[Millet]

Thank you citrange for the work you put into searching out the history. Your research has cleared up the meaning of  nickytwo' post.  Still one wonders why the USA is importing citrus that EU countries refuse due to finding 36 of the South African shipments with Black Spot disease. - Millet