A panel discussion on Friday at Nampo, the largest agricultural exhibition in the Southern hemisphere, highlighted the potential of South African agricultural exports while looking at the challenges of tariffs.
South Africa’s agricultural sector has significant opportunities to expand exports into Asia, the Middle East and broader African markets, but tariff barriers, protectionist policies and weak regional integration continue to limit growth prospects.
This emerged during a panel discussion at NAMPO Harvest Day in Bothaville, the largest agricultural exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere, where industry leaders and trade experts debated the future of South African agricultural exports amid rising global trade tensions.
The discussion featured Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, alongside Donald MacKay, founder and chief executive of XA Global Trade Advisors.
Sihlobo said South Africa’s agricultural exports had grown strongly over the past two decades following the successful negotiation of several trade agreements between 2005 and 2013.
