The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has predicted that South African food exporters will be well placed to seize business in Europe, should the World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round yield 50% reductions in tariffs, export and production subsidies worldwide.
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The OECD says liberalisation reforms since the 1990s – leaving South African production subsidies accounting for just 5% of farm receipts (compared with 34% in the European Union) – have “raised the SA food sector’s competitiveness”.
A Doha deal could therefore boost South African food export earnings by US$250m annually, notably by preventing the EU raising tariffs against fruit imports in the summer
