South Africa and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)aimed at strengthening collaboration to ensure market access for fruit between South Africa and the People's Republic.
Vice chairman of produce group Fruit South Africa (Fruit SA) Willem Bestbier inked the deal with his counterpart, vice chairman of the Chinese Quarantine and Inspection Association (CIQA) Wang Xin, in Beijing, China, on Monday (31 October).
With the implementation of this agreement and the acceleration of market access, the South African fruit industry aims to increase its exports to China to around 350,000 tonnes (up from 110,000 tonnes in 2015) within the next five years.
The objective of the MoU between the two organisations is to address the challenges that are experienced in expanding market access to China, which currently takes longer than desired, Fruit SA said in a press release.
'The agreement will ensure that the two organisations support their governments' work in opening markets for fruits by providing the required technical information and guidance to speed-up the negotiations process for market access for new products,' the press release said.
To date, South Africa can only export apples, citrus and table grapes to China, and the process is painstakingly slow. The two governments are currently negotiating market access for pears, which will be followed by avocados and then other types of fruits.
'The two parties will use the MoU to provide the support required during market access negotiations between the two countries by sharing information the following areas: pest risk analysis, quarantine and inspections regulations, technology exchanges related to fruit production and market developments,' Fruit SA said.
China imported a total of 3.8m tonnes of fruit during 2015 valued at US$5bn, of which South Africa only contributed 110,000 tonnes.
'Given that South Africa currently export about 2.7m tonnes of fruits globally, the value of its current export to China is very small and Fruit SA has been working hard in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) to gain more access for other fruits types,' the press release said.
