Browse Data and Analysis

In 2024, Southern Africa faced a severe drought, leading to a significant decline in corn and soybean production, which caused rising food inflation and economic challenges.

In April 2025, Ukraine eliminated all exceptions to the enforcement of food safety regulations for commercial imports which were put in place at the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war.

No new bilateral certificates were negotiated from the second half of 2024 through the first half of 2025. The Export Certificate Matrix includes only bilaterally negotiated certificates.

The FAIRS Annual Country Report provides a comprehensive summary of the rules and regulations governing the import of food and agricultural products to South Africa.

This report has been updated to include the latest information relevant to exporting to South Africa. The Food and Agricultural Import Regulation and Standards (FAIRS) Certificate Report provides a comprehensive list of the main certificates required for exporting plants, animals, and animal products to South Africa.

The South African Department of Agriculture (DoA) reported several new positive cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle in the KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga provinces in April 2025. Following the announcement of the FMD outbreak, China suspended imports of cloven-hoofed animals and related products from South Africa.

Major bulk commodities, as a share of total U.S. agricultural exports, have risen and fallen dramatically since 2020. Beyond short-term price volatilities that have largely driven these developments, changes to the largest overseas market and an increasingly competitive landscape also affect the prospect for major U.S. bulk exports.