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Higher tariffs and complex or unnecessarily restrictive sanitary requirements are constraining deeper agricultural trade among Brics countries, with some states enjoying more favourable terms with markets outside the group of developing countries compared with fellow members.Addressing this misalignment has become increasingly important as the bloc expands, local farm groups AgriSA and Agbiz said in a joint statement after meetings of the Brics business council agribusiness working group in New Delhi, India.Brics countries import more than $300bn of agricultural products annually, with China and India accounting for the lion’s share. Key agricultural imports include various grains and oilseeds, fruits, wine, beef, pork and poultry products, according to Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo, who chairs the working group.Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.Agbiz and AgriSA are pushing for a co-ordinated trade facilitation approach that aims to improve transparency across priority commodities and trade corridors “while exploring opportunities to progressively lower tariff barriers”.They also called for greater alignment on sanitary and phytosanitary requirements — government rules and measures designed to protect human, animal, and plant life from pests, diseases, and toxic contaminants in international trade — to reduce unnecessary duplication and delays.“From a business perspective, the priority is to create the practical conditions that enable farmers and agribusinesses to trade more effectively through improved market access, fewer unnecessary trade barriers, greater regulatory predictability and more efficient trade facilitation,” they said.“In an increasingly complex global trading environment, stronger agricultural trade relationships can contribute to more resilient value chains, diversified markets and greater food security across Brics economies.”South Africa is looking to explore alternative export markets, particularly with fellow Brics members, to counter increasing protectionism from Europe and the US, with the latter also applying punitive tariffs over political differences with Pretoria.Last week US president Donald Trump signed a law extending duty-free access to qualifying nations under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to 2028, but this falls far short of the 15 years South Africa was pushing for, and it is also not yet clear whether the country will remain a beneficiary.According to the Reserve Bank’s March 2026 quarterly bulletin, the US received 7.1% of South Africa’s exports in 2025, down from 7.7% in 2024, leading to it being overtaken by Germany as the country’s second-largest export destination behind China.Earlier this week China — the world’s largest importer of cherries — granted South Africa access to its cherry market, allowing it into a sector where it spent the equivalent of nearly R53bn on imports last year. The move followed China in May implementing a zero tariff policy for 20 more African countries, including South Africa, a concession that will run to April 30 2028. This will allow South Africa to expand its traditional export base of raw materials and commodities to China to include fruit, vegetables, wine and other agricultural products.India has also agreed to include additional treatment options for fresh citrus fruit from South Africa, potentially opening up a market of nearly 1.5-billion people in a deal that was nearly 10 years in the making.South Africa is also looking to turn its political alignment with another Brics member, Brazil, into deeper economic and industrial co-operation, focusing on critical minerals, manufacturing and technology. The trade balance between the two countries, however, currently heavily favours Brazil, with South African producers accusing the South American country of unfairly dumping cheap frozen poultry and subsidised sugar onto the local market.At the annual Brics summit in Delhi this weekend, President Cyril Ramaphosa will push for expanded intra-Brics trade and investment, promoting industrialisation and value addition, and mobilising investment in African infrastructure, his office said on Friday.Business Day
