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Because of new corona entry rules: Fruit trade association warns of empty shelves

2021-01-24T13:40:41.152Z


The German Fruit Trade Association fears delivery bottlenecks. Because there are stricter entry rules for truck drivers from high-risk countries, the fruit and vegetable supply in the supermarket could soon become scarce.


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Empty shelves (here in Spain)

Photo: Samuel Aranda / Getty Images

The German fruit and vegetable traders warn of supply bottlenecks.

The reason is the stricter controls on border traffic from high-risk areas.

According to the German Fruit Trade Association (DFHV), they would make it more difficult to import goods from the main growing countries in southern Europe.

The entry requirements for the drivers of food transports have been unnecessarily tightened, so association manager Andreas Brügger.

Up until now, truck drivers who transported goods such as fruit and vegetables across borders were exempt from digital travel registration if appropriate hygiene requirements and protection concepts were observed.

"Now the federal government is lifting this exemption for people coming from high-risk areas or areas where virus mutations have occurred," said Brugger.

To protect against the introduction of new corona cases, the federal government upgraded significantly more countries to risk areas - a total of 32. Portugal and Spain are now also listed as particularly dangerous.

"Spain is currently one of the main supplier countries for fruit and vegetables with a share of around 30 percent," says DFHV boss Brügger.

The drivers from the specified high-risk areas such as Portugal and Spain have had to present a negative PCR Corona test that is no older than 72 hours when crossing the border on Sunday.

In practice this is hardly feasible.

Together with other associations, the federal government was informed at an early stage of the possible disadvantages of the extensive registration, testing and verification obligations.

According to Brugger "unfortunately without result".

However, you need a supply corridor for fresh fruit and vegetables even in Corona times.

"Otherwise there is a risk of empty retail shelves."

The fruit trade association therefore calls for binding regulations across Europe and a return to the so-called Green Lanes Directive.

This provides for border crossings within the EU with special lanes that enable goods vehicles to pass through quickly.

Icon: The mirror

Löw / dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2021-01-24

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