Amid escalating trade tensions worldwide, the appropriate posture for SA agriculture on trade is not to prefer one country over another, but to seek ways to multiply friendships and trade relations.
China’s recent public statements about its interest in deepening agricultural trade with SA should not be seen as an avenue to replace US exports or other trading partners. Instead, this offers an opportunity to continue with export diversification.
According to Trade Map data, China is among the world’s leading agricultural importers, accounting for 9% of global agricultural imports in 2024 (before 2024, China was a leading importer for many years). The US was the world’s leading agricultural importer in the same year, accounting for 10% of global imports.
Germany accounted for 7%, followed by the UK (4%), the Netherlands (4%), France (4%), Italy (3%), Japan (3%), Belgium (3%) and Canada (2%).
SA’s agricultural trade interests should spread across all major agricultural importers in such an environment.
This is a policy approach SA has practised since the dawn of democracy, and the export activity now illustrates it. For example, in 2024, SA exported a record $13.7bn of agricultural exports, up 3% from the previous year. These exports were spread across diverse regions.
Africa maintained the lion’s share of SA’s agricultural exports, accounting for 44% of the total value.
Collectively, Asia and the Middle East were the second-largest agricultural markets, accounting for 21% of the share of overall farm exports. The EU was SA’s third-largest agricultural market, with a share of 19%.
In 2024, the Americas accounted for 6% of SA’s agricultural exports, while the rest of the world, including the UK, accounted for 10%.
The products exported differed slightly across the regions. Exports to the rest of Africa primarily consist of grains, sugar, apples and pears, fruit juices, wine, soya bean oil, sunflower oil, oilcake and rice, among other products.
The Asian and Middle-Eastern regions have similar products, with the addition of beef, mutton and wool.
Meanwhile, exports to the EU and UK are mainly citrus, grapes, wine, dates, avocados, pineapples, fruit juices, apples and pears, berries, apricots and cherries, nuts and wool. This again confirms that products perform differently across markets, further supporting a view of maintaining wide access to a range of export regions.
China remains an attractive area for SA, but signalling the willingness to absorb more SA agricultural products is only the first step. The next steps should be a realistic reduction of the import tariffs and the removal of the phytosanitary barriers that certain agricultural products continue to encounter in the Chinese market. Indeed, the work must be led by the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition, the Agriculture Department, and, at some points, also the Department of International Relations & Co-operation.
However, China must also demonstrate an effort to collaborate beyond the statements. While China is the second-largest agricultural market, SA has a small share in the Chinese list of agricultural suppliers, at about 0.4%.
However, this access in China, in the same view as citrus, wine grapes, nuts and wine in the US market, is vital for the wool and red meat industries. China accounts for about 70% of SA’s wool exports. There is a progressive increase in red meat exports, even though animal diseases cause glitches.
Focus should be on expanding this access by lowering duties and other non-tariff barriers in the Chinese market.
SA’s agriculture sector should continue to insist on strengthening relations with all existing trading partners and expanding into new markets.
Written for and first appeared in the Business Day.
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