By Rene Vollgraaff.
South Africa’s agriculture minister signed a trade protocol with China to export five types of stone fruit to the Asian country for the first time.
The agreement signed by John Steenhuisen and Sun Meijun, the head of China’s General Administration of Customs, opens the market for the export of apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and prunes, and could unlock about R400 million ($23 million) for South Africa over the next five years, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Wednesday.
It marks the first time China has negotiated access for multiple types of stone fruit from a single country under a single deal, the ministry added.
South Africa has been working to find new export markets for its farming produce since the US first mooted increasing import tariffs. In August, President Donald Trump’s administration imposed 30% duties on some goods from South Africa, and talks aimed at securing a more favourable trade deal remain ongoing.
Steenhuisen has invited a technical team from China to inspect South Africa’s cherry and blueberry orchards and packing houses, and if that proceeds smoothly market access for those fruits may be granted within the next harvest cycle, the ministry said.
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