About a year ago, European farmers were on the streets in various regions protesting against government policies. The core challenges were the EU’s declining agricultural subsidies, the stringent environmental policy to reduce chemicals and fertiliser use, and the need for protection against imports.
The protests only eased when the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced it would delay implementing environmental policies involving reducing pesticides and other farm inputs.
On the environmental issue, it was easy to sympathise with farmers. A drastic reduction in agrochemicals and fertilisers is not ideal, as that would negatively affect harvest quality and output. Hence, a reasonable transition under the framework of a moderate approach with feasible timelines, which EU farmers advocated for, was reasonable.
I also paid attention to this matter because the EU would apply the same rules to the exporting countries to the region. Therefore, the delay in its implementation also offered a breathing space to exporters such as those in my home country, South Africa.
As we started to forget this episode and start the new year focusing on the US trade policy and other issues, the French farmers began another conversation. They are out on the streets protesting again.
But this time, the emphasis is not on environmental issues but on trade policies. The French farmers are unhappy about the EU-South America trade agreement, the EU-Mercosur trade deal. The deal will remove tariffs on around 90% of trade in goods between the two sides, primarily over a period of roughly 12 years. Agricultural exports from Mercosur will be subject to gradually rising quotas.
The French farmers say this is unfair competition, and the EU authorities do not understand the ” level of misery and distress that farmers are going through at the moment”.
This line of argument of farmers has found sympathetic voices in some corners. Writing in The Spectator, a weekly British magazine, on January 6, 2025, James Tidmarsh stated that:
“the French press will dance around the elephant in the room, but the farmers know the truth. This is about Brussels, not Paris. The policies strangling French agriculture – crippling environmental regulations, predatory trade deals, and dwindling subsidies – are made in the European Union’s corridors of power. France, despite its posturing as Europe’s leader, doesn’t have the weight to shape Brussels’s decisions. For French farmers, it’s become painfully clear: their government isn’t calling the shots. The real power lies with Ursula von der Leyen and her ideological crusade for a greener, more globalised Europe.”
That is quite something from Tidmarsh! And I don’t like his tone on trade issues.
Anyways, why am I writing about this issue?
I am presenting it because the EU is an important trading partner for South Africa’s agriculture. According to data from Trade Map, the region is the second-most important market for South Africa’s agricultural products, accounting for 27% of the country’s total agricultural exports. Therefore, the unfavourable trade conversation in that region is relevant to us.
The South African agricultural sector has faced various protectionist tendencies in the EU market, particularly in citrus. For example, the EU recently used non-tariff barriers by alleging a “False codling moth“, a citrus pest, in South Africa and requiring citrus products to be kept at certain temperatures before accessing the EU market.
This happens while South Africa has already treated the products to eliminate the chances of such pest occurrence. This was a subtle form of protecting Spanish farmers, who are also major citrus producers within the EU market.
With an outright view from farmer groupings in the EU that they face unfair competition in the global agricultural market, we worry that using various non-tariff barriers may be common.
Policy considerations
Given farmers’ rising discontent and protectionism worldwide, South African agribusinesses and the government should work to diversify agriculture’s export markets. Some key growing markets with larger populations are within the BRICS, such as China, India, and Saudi Arabia.
Still, South Africa must look broadly and deepen its agricultural trade with South Korea, Japan, the USA, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.
This export expansion should occur while South Africa works to maintain its access to critical markets in the EU, Africa, and various Asian and American countries.
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