The EU and Indonesia have announced a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The deal aims to eliminate over 98 % of tariffs, with key focus areas including cars, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agri-food products. As too often, the benefits for EU fruit and vegetables exports remain uncertain and subject to unresolved SPS. Is the EU–Indonesia CEPA good news for Fruit and Vegetables?

The European fruit and vegetables sector export around 7.000.000 T of high quality, sustainable and nutritious fruit and vegetables to more than 150 destinations. This volume remains however well below its potential and demand given excessive SPS barriers imposed by third countries. The recent finalisation if the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Indonesia could be an new opportunities for the EU fresh produce business and further market diversification in a buoyant South East Asian markets.

Despite being a distant market, Indonesia is a highly promising and strategically important market in the current geopolitical and trade context. With a population of 286 million, a growing middle class, and GDP growth consistently above 5 %, Indonesia offers significant opportunities for EU exporters. The EU assortment of temperate fruits and vegetables is complementary and not competing with the local Indonesian production.

However, access to this market is currently undermined by a series of trade barriers, administrative burdens, discriminatory measures and complex business environment that prevent unleashing the full potential from the EU supply given a unlevelled playing field with competitors, most notably from the Northern Hemisphere such China (prices competition) and the United States (enjoying more favourable market access conditions). As a result, European export is limited to around 20.000 T (< €15 Million). EU fresh produce only represents a small share of the Indonesian import assortment (1,5 %). Currently, EU shipments are limited to onions and kiwifruit and some exports in a sample mode with apples or blueberries. Beyond the market access irritants, the EU sector also needs to monitor and to cope with other important commercial aspects for a successful growth of business: negotiating direct, and costs effective reefer logistics, addressing detrimental exchange rate fluctuations, or converting EU sustainability achievements from a handicap into an asset within a global & competitive trade environment.

Upon signing the CEPA, European Trade Commissioner Šefčovič underlined that this is a strong signal for openness and partnership in a world facing rising protectionism and fragile supply chains. The deal aims to eliminate over 98 % of tariffs, with key focus areas including cars, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agri-food products. Commissioner Hansen also highlighted a victory for high-quality EU foods and 200 Geographical Indications (GIs).

Philippe Binard , General Delegate of Freshfel Europe stated: “These are encouraging steps, but EU external trade should not be limited to cars! When it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables, there’s a critical issue that remains unresolved. Tariff elimination alone will not improve market access for EU exporters if non-tariff barriers, particularly SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) measures, are not effectively addressed”. In Indonesia, these barriers are numerous and complex ranging from costly, lengthy, and fragmented PRA processes (product-by-product, member-state-by-member-state), to lack of EU-wide recognition for plant health standards. Limited laboratory accreditation and also opaque licensing and quota systems are failing to generate a business friendly model further excarcerbated by discriminatory port logistics practices.

Despite the EU having robust, common food and plant safety regulations, Indonesia does not recognised the EU as a signle entities and continues to impose applications process member state by member state and duplicate requirements and conditions treating each EU member state separately, while Indonesia enjoying seamless access to the EU’s 450 million consumers for their export.

Philippe Binard commented: “For CEPA with Indonesia to truly deliver its benefit for fresh fruit and vegetables, SPS provisions of the agreement must tackle these systemic issues head-on. Let’s see if the SPS provisions of CEPA provide the tools for eliminating these excessive and duplicating measures “ He added “Otherwise, CEPA tariff concessions on fruit and vegetables will be void and risk becoming an empty gesture, as seen with past FTAs with Mexico, Chile, Peru, South Korea, and Japan.Most of these countries take huge benefit of exporting to the EU markets by too often remain hermetically close in breach of basic reciprocity principles”

So the question remains: Will this time be different for fresh fruit and vegetables? Freshfel Europe is calling the European Commission to secure and deliver the expected market opening for fruit and vegetables trade based on the momentum of CEPA and a phasing out of all excessive protectionist barriers allowing safe trade for the benefit of both EU trade, Indonesian importers and retailers and Indonesian consumers.

TUM researchers develop highly effective filter material

The chemicals known as PFAS are considered a severe threat to human health. Among other things, they can cause liver damage, cancer, and hormonal disorders. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now developed a new, efficient method of filtering these substances out of drinking water. They rely on so-called metal-organic framework compounds, which work much better than the materials commonly used to date. Even extremely low concentrations of PFAS in the water can still be captured.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are considered “forever chemicals”; they generally do not decompose on their own even after centuries and, therefore, pose a long-term threat to humans and animals. PFAS have been used in numerous products such as textiles, fire-fighting foams, and food packaging, and have thus been released into the environment. The substances can accumulate in the body via food and drinking water, and thus cause serious health issues.

The team led by Nebojša Ilić from the TUM Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering and Prof. Soumya Mukherjee, a former Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral researcher at the TUM Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry during the study period and now Assistant Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Limerick, identified water-stable metal-organic framework compounds made of zirconium carboxylate as particularly effective PFAS filters. The bespoke class of materials is characterized by the adaptable pore sizes and surface chemistry. The materials are water-resistant and highly electrostatically charged. By specifically designing the structures and combining them with polymers, the filter capacity has been significantly improved compared to materials already in use, such as activated carbon and special resins.

Prof. Jörg Drewes, Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, emphasizes the great social significance of the research results: “PFAS pose a constant threat to public health. For too long, the negative effects of the chemicals, which, among other things, ensure that rain jackets are waterproof and breathable, have been underestimated. The industry has now started to rethink this, but the legacy of PFAS will continue to affect us for several generations to come.”

Researchers from the TUM School of Natural Sciences worked together with colleagues from the TUM School of Engineering and Design and simulation experts from the TUM School of Computation, Information, and Technology to develop and research the new filters. Prof. Roland Fischer, Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, emphasizes: “When solving such major challenges, experts from a wide range of disciplines have to work together. You simply can’t get anywhere on your own. I am delighted that this approach has again proved its worth here.”

However, it will be some time before this new filter material is adopted at large scale in waterworks. The newly discovered principle would have to be implemented with sustainably available, inexpensive materials that are safe in every respect. This will require considerable further research and engineering solutions.

Publication
N. Ilić, K. Tan, F. Mayr, S. Hou, B. M. Aumeier, E. M. C. Morales, U. Hübner, J. Cookman, A. Schneemann, A. Gagliardi, J. E. Drewes, R. A. Fischer, S. Mukherjee, Trace Adsorptive Removal of PFAS from Water by Optimizing the UiO-66 MOF Interface, published in: Adv. Mater. 21.11.2024, 2413120. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202413120