By Paul Matthew, Global Cold Chain Alliance director for Africa
Positive momentum in perishable goods exports is playing an important role in South Africa’s economic recovery and in global food supply chain resilience.
Strong global demand, challenging conditions for a number of competitors, and improved refrigerated logistics capabilities helped South Africa’s fruit exports reach record volumes in 2025. South Africa’s fruit export sector has seen sustained growth across citrus, berry and stone fruit categories. Notably, the country surpassed all southern hemisphere competitors in apple exports last year. Europe remains the dominant destination for South African perishables, accounting for approximately 40% of total perishable exports in 2025.
Cold storage and transportation is fundamental to this positive trend. International demand has been growing for temperature-controlled logistics solutions in order to support perishable goods exports. Our industry’s strategic growth and investment in facilities, systems and skills is enabling the cold chain to respond to this increased demand.
In 2026, global trading patterns and shipping routes continue to shift in response to US trade policy and geopolitical events. The potential impact of the Middle East conflict on South Africa’s fresh produce exports to the region remains unclear at the time of writing.
Like many countries worldwide, South Africa faces uncertainty over its trade relationship with the US, both in the near and longer term. In February 2026, the US Court of International Trade ruled against President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which included duties of up to 31% on South African exports. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides duty-free access for many African exports to the US market, has been extended until December 2026.
Beyond the considerable uncertainty it generates, the changing global trade environment may also present new market opportunities for South Africa’s perishable export sector. We are already seeing early examples of this potential being turned into concrete opportunity: South Africa’s first consignment of stone fruit was shipped to China in February this year, marking the official commencement of the new stone fruit trade protocol between South Africa and China which will be followed by similar protocols for other produce, such as cherries and blueberries. The fruit industry’s ability to seize these emerging opportunities hinges on one critical factor: a cold chain that works. This means keeping perishable produce at the right temperatures, without interruption, all the way from South African farms, roads and ports to wholesalers, retailers and consumers in destination markets – reliably, efficiently and without breaking down under pressure.
We can expect the landscape of changing trade relationships to continue throughout 2026, and likely beyond. It is important for South Africa to be in a strong position to maximise export opportunities with Europe, East Asia, South America and Australasia, as well as within Africa as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) continues to develop, and the cold chain has a major role to play.
Demand for cold chain services is growing, and innovations and new collaborations are leading to advances in temperature-controlled logistics efficiency and capabilities. This is a crucial time to continue investment into the industry. Cold chain businesses in South Africa are investing in greater capacity, advanced services, trials and application of emerging technologies and specialist cold chain skills. The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) is engaging with ministers and policy officials to demonstrate how a policy environment that supports and encourages these investments will boost food supply chain resilience, sustainable communities and export growth. There are a number of key areas under discussion.
GCCA is engaging with national and local governments, infrastructure authorities and supply chain partners across southern Africa to explore collaborative solutions that will help tackle disruption to cold chain operations such as delays and congestion at ports and other infrastructure bottlenecks.
Reliable access to energy is vital for cold chain facilities. GCCA is seeking a suite of policies in South Africa to address energy concerns, such as support for renewable energy installations at cold storage sites and priority for critical food supply chain infrastructure in times of national energy shortage.
At a global level, trade of perishable goods can become far more efficient, more resilient and safer through a badly-needed modernisation of cumbersome paper-based customs processes. Digitisation in trade processes would remove trade frictions, reduce the risk of delay and loss, and support commerce while also strengthening oversight. Africa can be a major player as the world transitions to digitised trade processes and GCCA is urging progress through global action.
We look forward to discussing opportunities in perishable exports growth at GCCA’s Africa Cold Chain Conference in Johannesburg, 1-3 September 2026. Visit the GCCA website in the coming weeks for further details: www.gcca.org.
For more information on GCCA activity in Africa, contact GCCA senior vice-president global market engagement Adam Thocher at athocher@gcca.org.