BFAP’s Agricultural Trade Brief interprets and contextualises the latest quarterly international trade data and provides insights on the major factors driving agricultural trade such as global demand, seasonality and trade agreements. This quarterly brief provides the trends and patterns of fourth-quarter (Q4) South African agriculture trade for various commodities with several partners worldwide.
South Africa’s trade surplus in agricultural commodities in Q4 2024 declined as imports increased while exports stagnated. The contributing factors to stagnation include disease outbreaks, drought and geopolitical concerns. Even though export growth was marginal from 2023 to 2024 (+ 0.2%), the import growth trajectory that started in 2020 was broken, as it declined by 8% in Q4 2024.