WANDILE SIHLOBO | China deal opens farm export door − but where are roads and ports?

A critical element of the growth strategy for agriculture in SA is expanding its export opportunities.

If we don’t open new export markets, efforts to expand production without growing international demand for our produce will not succeed.

This is well understood by the government and in organised agriculture.

The new China-Africa Framework Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Prosperity, which came into effect at the beginning of the month, is a positive development because it zeroes out tariffs on African products entering the Chinese market for the next two years.

China is a major export market for SA farmers, alongside the rest of Africa, the EU, UK, US, and various smaller markets in Asia and the Middle East.

But, as we proceed with these export expansion efforts, we urgently need to improve port logistics.

In 2025 Transnet made significant progress, working with various private-sector organisations and organised agricultural groups. We saw efficiencies improve in the Port of Durban and in the Eastern Cape ports.

The various agricultural subsectors, including the citrus industry, benefited from this improvement.

In addition to the ample volume of agricultural produce, improved port efficiency boosted SA’s robust agricultural exports, which reached a record $15.1bn in 2025, up 10% from 2024.

But this improvement was not consistent throughout the year. The Port of Cape Town experienced delays in its agricultural activities at the end of 2025 and into the start of 2026.

This was a peak export period for the table grapes industry. It was also at a time when the industry had an ample harvest.

For example, figures released by the SA Table Grape Industry (Sati) show that the final figures for the 2025-26 table grape season inspected for export were up 3% on the year before at just over 81-million 4.5kg cartons.

But when these products came to be exported, various challenges confronted the Port of Cape Town, including weather-related problems.

Some growers and exporters had to move some of the crop they would typically export from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape ports.

The Dispatch reported earlier this week that as the table grape export shipment through the Port of Cape Town declined from 91% to 76%, so the volumes shipped through Eastern Cape ports increased from 6% of total exports in 2024/25 to 21% this year.

While higher export activity is generally welcomed at the Eastern Cape ports, transporting these volumes from remote regions to the Eastern Cape ports generally adds costs for growers and exporters.

So -- what started as one of the best years in the table grape industry ended up as one of the most logistically challenging and cost-intensive seasons.

Such inefficiencies provide a lesson that even as the agricultural sector needs to focus on widening export markets, working with Transnet to improve port efficiency is just as urgent.

This is a path the industry has taken, and Transnet has been collaborative in working to avoid a challenging season in the future.

Moreover, an issue much discussed but equally worth bringing up here as a supportive measure for the sector’s growth is the state of the road network.

Investment in improving rural roads needs high priority, as this weighs hard on the agricultural industry’s profitability and could slow export activity.

The export drive is key to the broader expansion of the agriculture sector, and must always be paired with stronger logistical support.

• Sihlobo is presidential envoy on agriculture and land, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA and a senior fellow in Stellenbosch University’s department of agricultural economics.