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South Africa is a significant market for American agricultural goods. Due to its expanding market, which supports the effective delivery of both imported and domestically produced agricultural products to major urban areas and the broader Southern Africa region, the country is a desirable location for businesses.

This report serves as a road map for U.S. companies exporting to Ecuador. While Ecuador is a challenging market for U.S. food and agricultural products, it is also one of opportunities. Domestic production cannot meet consumer demand, necessitating continued imports.

The Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform appears to have issued a circular with new import and transshipment requirement for animal and animal products into and through Namibia that states that importers must obtain a Namibian Veterinary Import Permit or Namibian Veterinary Import Permit for Conveyance In-Transit for commodities aimed for use in Namibia or in-transit.

The retail industry is an important component of Ecuador’s economy. The 2022 forecasts for retail food sales is $24.9 billion and for consumer expenditures on food, beverages, and tobacco is $15.9 billion. Excellent sales prospects exist for U.S. food products to supply this sector.

The area under citrus cultivation in South Africa has grown steadily over the past decade, driven by ongoing investments on relatively high earnings from export markets. As a result, South Africa is set for record citrus exports of 2.7 million tons in marketing year 2021/22.

On October 28, 2022, Tongaat Hullet’s management announced that they opted to go into voluntary business rescue due to the company’s severe levels of financial distress. On Tuesday November 1, Tongaat Hullet missed the deadline to pay R401 million ($22.9 million) for cane delivered by 4,300 growers in September.

The legal and regulatory situation to allow the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops in Ecuador remains relatively the same as 2021. Commercial cultivation of GE crops is not permitted, however cultivation for research is allowed and an exception exists for GE products without recombinant or foreign DNA in the genome. A ruling by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court in early 2022 now makes it more difficult for the President to authorize exceptions to the GE ban.

On November 9, 2022, The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) announced the initiation of the sunset review of anti-dumping duties (ADDs) of frozen bone-in portions of poultry from the United States.

South Africa has robust and experienced regulatory system for genetically engineered products, which started with the publication of the “GMO” Act of 1997. Today, South Africa is amongst the top-10 largest producers of GE crops in the world and has approved 27 GE plant events for commercial production contained in three commodities, namely, corn, soybeans, and cotton. South Africa’s corn yields doubled over the past 20 years, while soybean production improved 10-fold.

Post forecasts that South Africa’s corn area will stay flat in marketing year 2022/23. The current high input cost environment and an upsurge in soybean plantings are deterring any bullish outlook in expanding corn area, despite record high commodity prices and three consecutive bumper crops. Higher farming input costs are escalating the risk of production in a weather-dependent industry.

The area under apple, pears, and table grape cultivation in South Africa has grown steadily over the past decade, driven by ongoing investments into the deciduous fruit sector on relatively high earnings from export markets. However, the expansion in apple, pears, and table grape production is expected to alleviate in marketing year (MY) 2022/23, despite the production of record crops in MY 2021/22.

The current labor disputes at Transnet, South Africa’s state-owed port, rail and pipeline authority, have caused severe staff shortages at ports resulting in a significant slowdown of port operations and caused the company to declare fore majeure.