Southern Africa can expect more agri imports from the US

A growing middle class and large-scale urban migration have created strong demand for diverse agricultural products across sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in increased imports from the

US over the past decade.

This was according to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) report entitled, ‘Southern Africa: A promising region for US agricultural exports’.

US agricultural exports to Southern Africa totalled R9 billion in 2017, accounting for only 4% of the US’s R205 billion in total exports, according to the FAS.

“US agricultural exports to Southern Africa have fluctuated between R5 billion and R11 billion over the past 10 years. This fluctuation was primarily the result of droughtrelated variations in local maize production and competition from other wheat suppliers,” the report said.

According to the report, South Africa and Angola were the largest importers of US agricultural products in the region, accounting for 90% of US origin imports in 2017.

For the past five years, poultry meat and products (excluding eggs) had topped the list of US agricultural exports to Southern Africa.

Exports of chicken legs to South Africa had fared well, despite a quota of 65 000t at the most-favoured-nation tariff rate of 37%, and prohibitively high anti-dumping tariff rates above the quota, the report said.

“The opening of South Africa to imports of US table and hatching eggs opens a new opportunity, while the South African local egg industry is still recovering from highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in 2017,” the report added.

FAS estimated that South African table egg imports could reach 75t this year, but had been informed that the opening of the hatching egg market would be a temporary concession.

The report also stated that there had been strong growth in imports of liquor (whiskey and bourbon) across Southern Africa, as well as animal feed, plant and animal genetics, and consumer products.

Similarly, apples from areas in the US that were free of apple maggot ( Rhagoletis pomonella) could find market opportunities in South Africa, due to the severe drought in the Western Cape during 2017/2018, the report said. – Siyanda Sishuba