Browse Data and Analysis

This report has been updated to reflect the newest information and contacts relevant to exporting to South Africa. The FAIRS certificate report includes a list of the main licenses and certificates needed to export food and agricultural products from the United States to South Africa.

South Africa is amongst the top-10 largest producers of genetically engineered (GE) crops in the world and has approved 32 GE plant events for commercial cultivation since 1997. South Africa’s robust regulatory system for GE products, which started...

South Africa’s sorghum imports are expected to be elevated over the next two marketing years on lower production coupled with lower stocks as production continues to decline. Sorghum production in South Africa dropped over the past two decades as...

After last season’s second-largest corn crop on record and a fourth consecutive bumper corn crop, the positive outlook for the South African grain industry will continue in marketing year 2023/24.

Despite industry consolidation resulting in limited expansion, deciduous fruit production is expected to grow marginally as plantings come into production.

On October 25, 2023, the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) announced that the ban on poultry imports from 27 US States have been lifted.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which provides preferential market access to the United States is due for reauthorization in 2025.

South Africa is currently facing the worst outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) since 2017 with seven of the nine provinces in the country reporting outbreaks.

Post forecasts South African raw sugar production at 2.17 million MT in MY 2023/24, up 9 percent from 2 million MT in MY 2022/23, based on an increase in the quantity of cane delivered to the mills and consistent milling efficiencies.

The hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) sector in South Africa is gradually beginning to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but challenges remain due to frequent power outages, known as load shedding, and rampant food price inflation.

Uruguayan beef exports in 2024 are forecast slightly up at 467,000 tons carcass weight equivalent as a result of a projected larger beef output with a marginal increase in the domestic demand.

South Africa's steady growth in poultry production is expected to continue in 2024 as an increasingly vertically integrated industry capitalizes on lower feed prices driven by strong maize and soy production.