Summary
Kenyan exporters are once again facing stricter MRL controls on exports to the EU with this increasing the costs of market entry for the affected products. In addition new pre-export requirements for EU defined priority quarantine pests are increasing the risk of consignments being rejected at the EU’s borders. This has seen a reported 90% of Kenyan exporters of chillies seeking out new markets in the Middle East. This is indicative of the adjustment strategies a wide range of ACP horticultural and floriculture exporters may need to adopt in the coming years in the face of increasingly strict EU SPS import controls. While market adjustment processes will need to be private sector led, ACP governments will also need to take policy initiatives, for example ensuring that in any future trade agreements with the UK provision is made for reviewing UK-only phytosanitary controls where agro-climatic conditions and patterns of agricultural production in the UK make existing EU phytosanitary import control requirements unnecessary.
At the end of October 2019 Kenya was once again placed on the list of countries subject to more stringent surveillance of imports for pesticide residues as a result of increased levels of detections of pesticide residues on horticultural products in excess of EU maximum residue levels (MRLs) (1). According to representatives of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, the increased levels of detections have arisen following a progressive lowering of EU permissible levels to far below the internationally agreed standard (2). This would appear to be the result of the application by the EU of ‘the default MRL of 0.01 mg/kg’ which ‘is applicable for pesticides not explicitly mentioned in the MRL legislation’ (3).
The frequency of EU inspections will be doubled from 5% to 10% of all consignments, doubling the costs of inspections, and adding $1,212 per consignment to the cost of market entry (2).
The move comes ‘just five months after Kenya was delisted in January, having partially complied with the requirements’ (1). The Kenyan authorities have been intensifying efforts to ensure compliance with EU MRL requirements, but since 2014 have found themselves chasing a moving target as the EU pesticide review gathered pace. Kenyan efforts have included the banning of the use of certain pesticides, better training on the use of agro-chemicals, increased pre-export inspections (1) and the exclusion of 3 Kenyan firms from access to electronic phytosanitary certificates issued by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) (2).
In terms of Kenyan horticulture and floriculture exports to the EU the concerns arising over violations of EU maximum residue level (MRLs) requirements are being compounded by increasingly strict EU controls on pest infestations, plant diseases and fungal infections. This is seeing Kenyan exports of both fruit and vegetables and cut flowers being affected.
This is a major source of concern, with in 2018 Kenyan exports of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers to the EU being valued at €95 million, €179 million and €486 million respectively (4); in total some 65% of the value of Kenya’s export trade to the EU of €1,315 million.
Most recently in October 2019 the EC published a list of ‘20 regulated quarantine pests qualifying as priority pests, including Xylella fastidiosa, the Japanese beetle, the Asian long-horned beetle, Citrus greening and Citrus Black Spot’ (5). The priority accorded these particular pests was based on the likely severity of the economic, environmental and social impact in the EU if such pests were to gain ground across EU territory.
The assessment was carried out by the ‘Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the European Food Safety Authority’ and ‘takes into account the probability of spreading, establishment and consequences of those pests for the Union’ (5). It is maintained ‘globalisation and climate change are redrawing the landscape of plant pest distribution’, with this posing ‘a threat to natural and managed environments, agricultural and forestry production, ecosystems and biodiversity in the European Union territory’ (6). According to the EC the measure will ‘increase preparedness and early actions against very dangerous plant pests and contribute to the European green deal, protecting our biodiversity, the natural ecosystems and the EU agriculture’ (5).
| EU List of priority quarantine pests (8)
Agrilus anxius |
More significantly from an ACP perspective the new EU Plant Health Regulation approach (of which the new list of priority pests forms an integral part) once it comes fully into effect, will require the preparation and submission of detailed pest risk assessments by the competent authority in the exporting country prior to products being allowed entry to the EU market. This could profoundly impact on a large range of ACP exports of fruit, vegetables and floriculture products to the EU market.
In some sectors the threat this poses is seeing Kenyan exporters seeking out new non-EU markets. This is the case for Kenyan chilli exporters, 90% of which are reportedly seeking alternative markets in the Middle East to avoid the costly rejection of consignments by the EU. This is occurring despite the lower prices being gained on Middle Eastern markets relative to the EU. However the risk of commercial losses as a result of stricter EU import controls is deemed such as to warrant the acceptance of lower prices in a market where demand is booming.
| Comment and Analysis
The reaction of Kenyan chilli exporters to increasingly strict EU sanitary and phytosanitary controls are indicative of the adjustment strategies a wide range of ACP horticultural and floriculture exporters may need to adopt in the coming years in the face of increasingly strict EU SPS import controls. Those ACP exporters who are first to make these kinds of market adjustments are likely to be better placed than those who only make the shift in the face of a sudden EU market closure. This process of market adjustment will need to be private sector led, but in some smaller ACP countries may require some level of public sector support. However in regard to certain specific issues public sector initiatives will need to lead the way. This is most notably the case in regard to the future basis for UK phytosanitary controls once the UK is no longer part of the EU customs union and single market. As the EU’s 1 August 2019 regulation points out, the list of 20 priority pests ‘takes into account, for the Union territory, the probability of spreading, establishment and consequences of the pests assessed’ (8). Once no longer part of the Union territory the UK can base its pest risk assessments on the agro-climatic conditions prevailing solely in the UK rather the territory of all 28 EU member states. In some areas this will lead to far lower risk assessments and far lower phytosanitary import control requirements (e.g. for citrus black spot). In this context ACP governments need to make sure that in any future trade agreement with the UK provisions are included which establish a simple procedure for reviewing UK-only phytosanitary controls where agro-climatic conditions and patterns of agricultural production in the UK make existing EU phytosanitary import control requirements unnecessary. |
Sources
(1) businessdailyafrica.com , ‘EU again hits Kenyan produce with ‘high chemical use’ label’, 1 Nov 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9159417/eu-again-hits-kenyan-produce-with-high-chemical-use-label/
(2) freshplaza.com , ‘EU steps up monitoring of Kenya’s horticulture imports’, 18 November 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9164361/eu-steps-up-monitoring-of-kenya-s-horticulture-imports/
(3) EFSA Journal, ‘The 2016 European Union report on pesticide residues in food’, 25 July 2018
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5348
(4) EC, ‘Agri-Food Trade Statistical Factsheet European Union – Kenya’, 15 March 2019
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/food-farming-fisheries/farming/documents/agrifood-kenya_en.pdf
(5) EC, ‘European Commission publishes list of 20 priority pests’, 14th October
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9153118/european-commission-publishes-list-of-20-priority-pests/
(6) EC, ‘Priority-plant-pests-eu-5-things-you-need-know’, 11 October 2019
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/priority-plant-pests-eu-5-things-you-need-know
(7) businessdailyafrica.com , ‘Kenyan chilli exporters shift focus from EU to the Middle East’, 5 Nov 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9160308/kenyan-chilli-exporters-shift-focus-from-eu-to-the-middle-east/
(8) EC ‘supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the list of priority pests’, 1 August 2019 ( EC list of 20 priority Pests)
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019R1702&from=EN