Brexit may open up opportunities for SA

THERE are opportunities for SA to sell more of its agricultural produce to the UK under a postBrexit trade agreement, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said.

“The UK doesn’t have the sensitivities of some of the countries from southern Europe that see us as competitors,” Davies said, referring to wine and fruit. “In the longer and medium-term it may well be that we can improve our access into the UK market.”

Davies, who spoke in an interview on Tuesday, is in the UK for talks to ensure that trade is not interrupted when the country leaves the EU. The economic partnership agreement (EPA), signed last year between the EU and the five-nation Southern African Customs Union, would form a template for new UK-SA trading rules, Davies said.

Exports of South African citrus to the EU have been periodically blocked in recent years due to objections from farm groups in Spain, which competes with SA as a producer of the fruits. The groups were concerned about the possibility of black-spot disease from SA infecting their trees.

SA and Spain are major suppliers of oranges and other citrus fruit globally and SA is the world’s seventh-biggest wine producer.

The bulk of the economic partnership agreement would remain in place but the countries would have to renegotiate quotas for some products before the Brexit process was complete, Davies said. — BloombergBDLive