US senator John Kennedy has introduced a new bill to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for two years, which would explicitly exclude SA. This matters for SA’s agricultural sector, as we all continue to seek better relations with the US. The US remains an important market for SA, accounting for about 4% of our total agricultural exports, valued at $13.7bn (R230bn) in 2024.
Agricultural exports were also strong in the first two quarters of 2025. After the Liberation Day tariffs were announced, some exporters took advantage of the 90-day pause on the higher tariffs and exported more volume than usual during the second quarter of 2025. In fact, in the second quarter of 2025, SA’s agricultural exports to the US increased by 26% to $161m (R2.7bn).
It was only in the third quarter that we saw some cooling in exports. Notably, SA’s agricultural exports to the US decreased by 11% in the third quarter of 2025, compared to the same period a year ago, at $144m (R2.4bn). The composition of the products hasn’t changed much; it is mainly citrus, wine, fruit juices, and nuts, among other typical agricultural exports to the US.
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From now on, a great deal hinges on whether SA succeeds in securing favourable trade terms with the US. It is also worth highlighting that the US has decided to modify its reciprocal tariffs and exempt some food products, thus easing agricultural trade friction, which is costly to both exporting countries and US consumers. The exempted products include coffee and tea, fruit juices, cocoa, spices, avocados, bananas, coconuts, guavas, limes, oranges, mangoes, plantains, pineapples, various peppers and tomatoes, beef, and additional fertilisers.
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