SA’s agricultural exports have remained strong since the start of the year despite significant trade policy shifts and uncertainty.
The cumulative value of agricultural exports for the first three quarters of the year is $11.7bn (R199.8bn), representing a 10% increase from the corresponding period in 2024.
The exports have been strong every quarter. The latest data for the third quarter shows that SA’s agricultural exports totalled $4.7bn (R80.2bn), up 13% from the same period a year ago.
This is due to higher volumes of various product exports and better commodity prices.
The dominant exports in the second quarter of the year were mainly citrus, nuts, apples, pears, maize, wine, sugar, fruit juices, berries, grapes, pineapples, avocados and soybean, among other products.
Though there is still room for improvement in port efficiency, we have witnessed notable gains compared with recent months.
We observed a similar experience in the past two quarters.
This has supported export activity and illustrates the gains from ongoing policy reforms in SA’s network industries.
From a regional perspective, the African continent maintained the lion’s share of SA’s agricultural exports in the third quarter of 2025, accounting for 34% of the total value.
The main exports on the African continent were maize, maize meal, apples and pears, wheat, fruit juices, wine, nuts, sugar, vegetable oils, and live animals, among other products.
As a collective, Asia and the Middle East were the second-largest agricultural markets, accounting for 25% of total agricultural exports in the third quarter of 2025.
Citrus, nuts, apples, pears, wool, sugar, berries, grapes, beef, mutton, maize, apricots, cherries and peaches accounted for the bulk of exports to Asian and Middle Eastern regions in the third quarter of 2025.
The EU was SA’s third-largest agricultural market, accounting for 23% of total exports in the third quarter of this year.
The exports to this region primarily included citrus, wine, grapes, nuts, fruit juices, dates, apricots, figs, mangoes, avocados, guavas, apples, pears, berries and sugar, among other products.
The Americas region accounted for 6% of SA’s agricultural exports in the third quarter of the year.
The main exports include citrus, grapes, wine, fruit juices, apples, pears, apricots and nuts, among other products.
Given ongoing concerns about the higher tariffs SA faces in the US, it is worth highlighting that after some exporters took advantage of the 90-day pause of the higher tariffs and exported more volume than usual during that period in the second quarter of the year, we saw some cooling of exports in the third quarter.
Notably, SA’s agricultural exports to the US decreased by 11% in the third quarter of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, at $144m (R2.4m).
The composition of the products has not changed much; it is mainly citrus, wine, fruit juices and nuts, among other typical agricultural exports to the US.
SA’s agricultural exports to the US accounted for a 3% share of overall farm product exports in the third quarter of 2025.
Again, the 3% share of the US in South African agricultural exports is not a small share, as a few specific industries are primarily involved in these exports.
These are mainly citrus, grapes, wine and fruit juices.
It is also worth noting that the US has decided to modify its reciprocal tariffs and exempt certain food products, thereby easing agricultural trade friction, which is costly to both exporting countries and US consumers.
The exempted products include coffee and tea, fruit juices, cocoa and spices, as well as avocados, bananas, coconuts, guavas, limes, oranges, mangoes, plantains, pineapples, various peppers, tomatoes, beef and additional fertilisers.
From a South African perspective, oranges, macadamia nuts and fruit juices will benefit from the exemption.
The rest of the world, including the UK, accounted for 12% of South African agricultural exports in the third quarter of 2025.
SA also imports various agricultural products.
In the third quarter of 2025, SA’s agricultural imports totalled $1.9bn (R32.4bn), a 2% decline year on year.
The result is due to slightly lower values and volumes of major products SA imports, such as wheat, palm oil, poultry and whiskies.
SA lacks favourable climatic conditions for growing rice and palm oil and thus relies on imports of these products.
Regarding wheat, SA imports nearly half of the annual consumption.
Consequently, when we account for the exports and imports, SA’s agriculture sector recorded a trade surplus of $2.7bn (R46.1bn) in the third quarter of 2025, up 28% from the previous year.
- Wandile Sihlobo is the chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA
The Herald
