Fruit exports growing

New market access protocols have seen fruit exports to chiefly China, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines grow strongly over the past five seasons. A breakthrough came with agreements on in-transit cold treatment and innovation by the industry to provide in-demand varietals. The biggest gains are in apples and pears to India and China, citrus to China, Vietnam and India, and more recently avocados and stone fruit to China and Japan under Hass-avocado and other phytosanitary protocols. India has become the third- biggest export market for apples. Volumes have surged following agreement on an in-transit cold treatment protocol in 2022. South African exports of fresh apples, pears and quinces to India were worth $66.98 million during 2025, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. This is up from $57.3m in 2024. Apples are also crunching into the Chinese market, with exports of around a million cartons in 2025, according to official figures, making SA the second- biggest supplier after New Zealand, which has reported volumes of around 4.7m cartons. The SA volume is expected to increase with China’s zero-tariff policy for African agricultural products, which will reduce the import costs for Chinese retailers by about 10%. Pear export volumes to China are also growing. In 2025, SA resumed exports of apples to Thailand after a 16-year ban. Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh are established midsize markets for apples (and some pears), bringing Asia’s share of SA’s total fresh apple export volumes up from about 31% in 2020 to over 40% in 2023–2024. Citrus is South Africa’s largest fruit export category by volume, and Asia (including the Far East and India) is a fast- growth region. Industry analysis shows South and East Asia as the fastest-growing citrus region. In 2025, China absorbed around 6% of total SA citrus exports, or 11.5m cartons. There was a sharp jump in citrus exports to India, from 30 000 tons in 2024 to 55 500 tons in 2025 due to improvements in market access and logistics. A bilateral protocol in 2024 opened Vietnam to SA oranges; first-season shipments were 53 311 15 kg cartons, rising to 209 569 cartons in 2025 – a near-fourfold increase in a year, according to Fruit South Africa. South Africa’s avocado exports remain heavily Europe- dependent (about 94% of 2024 export value), but Asia is a strategic growth frontier for the sector, with specific protocols for Hass avocados to China, Japan and (in progress) India. The first commercial SA avocado shipments to China departed in early 2025 under a bilateral phytosanitary protocol for Hass (and other approved varieties). A 2025 protocol signed by SA and China has opened the market to stone fruit and other subtropicals (peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, litchis, mangoes). China has also opened the door for cherry imports from SA. Still to gain access are litchis and mangoes, while table grape exports remain relatively small. ER