South Africa to boost agricultural exports to China

South Africa is set to boost agricultural exports to China by leveraging BRICS support and growing trade channels as local exporters report surging demand for diverse produce in the Chinese market.

Riyp, a leading South African fruit and vegetable exporter, supplies locally sourced produce to 45 countries worldwide. The company has experienced a significant surge in demand from China, benefiting from the expanding trade avenues between the two countries.

"When we started, we started only with citrus into China and that volume has been growing year on year. But more recently, we've also seen an increase in demand for our apples, as well as our grapes from the Chinese market," said Uzair Essack, owner and managing director of Riyp.

The South African agricultural produce received a significant boost after the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in 2023. Notably, China, South Africa's largest trading partner, has signaled a growing demand for its high-quality produce.

"BRICS has definitely helped South African and China trade. There's usually a lot of red tape when it comes to regulations and certifications regarding the fresh produce industry. But with BRICS and the support that they've given us, new varieties, new fruit cultivars, new types of fruit are now being exported to China," Essack said.

Greater buying power and evolving Chinese consumer tastes are driving demand for a variety of South African products, including wine.

"There is a much greater appreciation now for new world wines in particular. And South Africa is one of those. Obviously, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa and we have a very small percentage of the market, something like two or three percent of the imported wine market into China. So, the opportunities for growth are massive," said Andrew Ing, founder of Gun Bay Wines, a South African wine brand that started doing business with China five years ago.

Red meat, nuts, maize, soybeans, and wool, products on China's import priority list, are all produced by South African farmers and exported to China, among other countries. But lawmakers have their work cut out to gain a greater share of the Chinese market.

"It is a very good opportunity now to really pivot towards a greater percentage, going exports. We have a number of industries that would like to do a larger share of exports. Even our potato industry is underweight in terms of exports as a percentage of production. And for the red meat industry, it's the same," said Wolfe Braude, manager of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa.

South Africa to boost agricultural exports to China

China's latest round of mineral exploration has delivered strong results, with substantial new reserves of oil, gas and key metals added so far this year, a breakthrough in an ongoing push to underpin the country's advanced manufacturing industry, officials said on Tuesday.

"The new round of exploration has produced encouraging outcomes. From January to August, China was added with nearly 70 million tons of recoverable oil reserves and 610 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas reserves. Meanwhile, new resource volumes at the Chating copper-gold mine in [east China's] Anhui Province and the Zhugongtang lead-zinc mine in [southwest China's] Guizhou Province have reached super-large scale," said Liu Guohong, secretary of the ministry's Committee of Communist Party of China, at a press conference in Beijing.

Looking ahead, leading officials of the ministry noted that demand for critical mineral resources will continue to grow during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). To meet that demand, China will press ahead with its strategic mineral exploration drive, secure the supply of essential minerals and provide solid support for the development of advanced manufacturing.

"The primary requirements for mineral exploration are to clarify the basic geological conditions of the country and identify areas where minerals may be found. To that end, we will implement a national geological mapping plan, raise the coverage of 1:50,000 regional geological surveys on land to 51 percent, and increase the coverage of mineral geological surveys in key metallogenic belts to 66 percent, so as to gain a clear picture of our resource and energy base," said Zhou Xing, vice minister of Natural Resources.

The leading officials said exploration will focus on minerals in short supply such as petroleum, iron, copper and aluminum, while also covering rare earths and other minerals where China holds an edge. A number of key exploration and extraction projects will be launched, and more large and medium-sized mineral deposits and oil and gas fields are expected to be discovered.

China will steadily advance the construction of some 300 energy and resource bases, significantly raise the self-sufficiency rate of strategic minerals, and boost the country's resource security.

At the same time, authorities will continue to reassess existing resources and unlock the potential of low-grade and hard-to-process mineral resources.

China reports major gains in mineral exploration drive