The US’s strong demand for South African table grapes is reflected in a sharp rise in South Africa’s exports to the US, which jumped by 65% between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 export seasons, from 1,3 million 4,5kg cartons (6 000t) to 2,2 million cartons (9 900t).
The South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) noted in a statement that table grapes were not exempted from severe import tariffs included in US President Donald Trump’s latest revision of reciprocal tariffs, announced on 14 November.
“We welcome any movement towards tariff reduction. However, it is disappointing that table grapes were excluded from the list of exempted products, given the US’s reliance on imported grapes,” Mecia Petersen, SATI CEO, said.
“Our industry is committed to supplying high-quality fruit to global markets, including the US, and we strongly believe South Africa should be afforded fair and equal treatment alongside other Southern Hemisphere suppliers, who currently enjoy reciprocal tariff rates much lower than South Africa’s.”
By volume, South Africa is the fourth-largest exporter of table grapes globally and the third-largest in the Southern Hemisphere, having exported around 400 000t in 2024.
“We have been supplying the US for more than 20 years, and the industry has invested in resources that enable South Africa to meet the US market’s high specifications,” Petersen added.
She stated that SATI, in collaboration with Agbiz and the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA), would urgently submit a formal request to the US Trade Representative, aiming to clarify how product exemptions were decided and to advocate for the inclusion of South African table grapes and other affected commodities on the exemption list to help lower prices for US consumers.
With the 2025/26 table grape export season now under way, SATI has said the US market continues to pose challenges due to the higher tariffs applied on South African grapes compared with competitors like Chile and Peru.
The exclusions from tariff reductions mean local fruit exporters continue to face significant cost pressures when entering the US market. This is particularly concerning given South Africa’s long-standing reputation as a reliable, counter-seasonal supplier of fresh grapes to US importers and consumers, SATI said.
These higher duties raise the landed cost of South African fruit and hinder the industry’s ability to compete effectively in this crucial market, it added.
South Africa’s new trade strategy
Speaking at the Agbiz WC Media Day 2025, held in Stellenbosch recently, Wolfe Braude, fruit desk manager at Agbiz, said South Africa’s trade strategy was undergoing significant revision in the face of growing protectionism in its traditional export markets, with an emphasis on diversification into new markets.
Braude said it was encouraging that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition earlier this year confirmed its support for Agbiz’s proposal for sectoral or value chain-specific ‘partial scope’ preferential trade agreements with trading partners. These agreements offer an alternative pathway for relevant markets, avoiding deadlocks that can arise in other sensitive sectors, such as textiles and manufacturing.
Such partial trade agreements offer significant advantages for the agriculture sector as an additional stage to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreements or protocols, which are required for access to export markets. SPS protocols typically cover only a single commodity at a time, are vulnerable to unilateral action, and are not part of a broader binding legal framework with dispute-resolution mechanisms, he added.
According to Braude, securing SPS protocols can take years. Efforts to gain market access to India for South African avocados began in 2013, with the first response on a quarantine pest list only coming in 2018. It took 19 years to finalise a pear protocol with China, 15 years for apples, and the stone fruit protocol, started in 2003, was only completed this year.
Under this new trade strategy, the target markets for South African fruit and other agricultural value chain products include China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the US, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, he said.
Market access is only the beginning
Braude pointed out that several key South African export fruits still face significant tariffs in BRICS markets. In China, table grapes face duties of 13% to 40%, while other fruit imports are subject to tariffs of 10% to 25%. In India, table grapes attract tariffs of 20% to 30%; avocados, most stone fruit, and most citrus face 30% tariffs; and apples are subject to a 50% tariff, despite already being very successful there.
“The only way to decrease tariffs will be via trade agreements. SPS protocols do not cover tariffs,” Braude told Farmer’s Weekly.
“South African exporters of agricultural products in these markets also face competition from Southern Hemisphere rivals that have already secured preferential [lower-tariff or duty-free] market access.
“Securing such access has become more urgent given US tariffs, which have restricted market entry there and intensified competition elsewhere from similarly displaced suppliers.
“South Africa’s negotiations with the US are ongoing, with no cut-off date, and the government is determined to reduce the 30% tariff while balancing the country’s defensive interests and economic development.
“The outcome is important for South African fruit, fruit juice, wine, macadamias, raisins and other dried fruit, frozen crustaceans, ostrich leather, sugar, jams and sauces, essential oils, and ice cream.”
Cost burdens on consumers
In a statement issued in the wake of the Trump administration’s announcement, the IFPA reiterated that tariffs on products not produced at scale year-round “could place an avoidable burden on families, limit healthy choices, and disrupt the marketplace”.
“We have consistently advocated for the removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers that are unscientific or not risk-based on fresh produce. Because of the seasonal and geographic nature of certain commodities, consumers and growers benefit from fair trade in fresh produce and floral products. With that rationale, we will continue to make the case for similar exemptions extended to floral products,” it added.
