The access to the various export markets that some SA industries enjoy now is the result of the efforts of the past two decades. What is critical for the sustained success of our export markets is the initiatives we take now in the changing global trading system to secure constant access, and to open more avenues.
Regarding the agricultural sector, in the early 2000s we exported about $2bn worth of products. From the mid-2000s to the 2010s we managed to secure more export markets and SA’s agricultural exports gained momentum. In 2018 SA’s agricultural exports crossed the $10bn mark, and have remained robust since.
With the steady export activity, farmers responded positively by continuously improving the productivity and quality of the produce. The export efforts came from the private sector, organised agriculture, academia and the government, among other key stakeholders. It is due to such effective collaboration that SA’s farming sector is now the 32nd largest exporter globally in value terms, and the only African country among the top 40 of global agricultural exporters.
These exports were at a record $13.7bn in 2024. The success of opening these markets also came amid embracing globalisation. We are now at a different time, in which fragmentation is the theme.
At the weekend I looked at how SA’s agricultural export activity is progressing so far this year. In the doom and gloom of the day on trade matters, SA’s agricultural export figures remain encouraging. After solid export activity in the first quarter of the year, SA’s agricultural exports totalled $3.71bn in the second quarter of 2025, up 10% from the same period in 2024. This is a function of higher volumes of various product exports and better commodity prices.
The products that dominated the exports list in the second quarter of the year were mainly citrus, apples and pears, maize, wine, nuts, fruit juices, dates, pineapples, avocados, grapes and wool. While there remains a need for further improvement in the efficiency of the ports, there has been a material improvement compared with recent years. Agricultural export activity in the second quarter experienced less friction than in the recent past.
SA has been generally successful in securing access to diverse export markets, gaining greater access to the African continent, the EU, Asia, the Middle-East and the Americas, among other regions. Consider the $3.71bn in agricultural exports in the second quarter, about 40% of which was to the African continent. Trailing Africa was the EU, with a 22% share in the exports. About 21% went to the Middle East and Asia, with 7% share being the Americas. The remaining 10% was the rest of the world, including the UK.
The struggle now is about retaining these markets. They each face a range of pressures from countries that want to diversify their exports after the US trade tariffs and the changing global trade landscape. The effort of maintaining these markets must again be rooted in the collaboration of business, organised agriculture, academia and the government, among other stakeholders.
We also have to review the capacity of all stakeholders on trade matters consistently; we no longer have the teams we had in the early 2000s in some departments. Therefore, part of strategising about export diversification involved capacity rebuilding and a shift in mindset towards embracing free trade agreements. The work on all this must start now.
Written for and first appeared in the Business Day.
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