South African table grapes break into South Korean market after two decades
The Department of Agriculture has announced that South African table grapes can now be exported to South Kor
Image: Ian Landsberg/Independent Newspapers
The Department of Agriculture has announced that South African table grapes can now be exported to South Korea.
This comes as the government continues its efforts to diversify its trading partners and expand markets for local agricultural products, offering new opportunities for farmers and boosting the country’s export earnings.
In a statement released to the media, the department said that this follows more than 20 years of negotiations and a series of technical inspections to meet South Korea’s strict phytosanitary and food safety requirements.
"Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, is pleased to announce that South Africa has gained market access for the export of fresh table grapes to the Republic of Korea (ROK)".
"The ROK notified the RSA that they had opened the market on 23 January 2026, which means that producers can start exporting table grapes to the ROK (an announcement will be made as and when the first consignment is ready for loading). The negotiations for this market started over 20 years ago"
South Africa is one of the world’s top five table grape exporters. According to the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI), the country exports about 55% of its table grapes to the European Union and 20% to the United Kingdom.
The Department added that the 2025/26 table grape season was progressing well, with an estimated 79.4 million 4.5 kg cartons expected for export, marking a 0.6% increase from the previous season.
"Fresh table grapes exported from the RSA to the ROK must meet all applicable phytosanitary and food safety requirements as listed in the final phytosanitary import conditions for exports. Exporters, production units and packhouses interested in this lucrative market must be registered with the Department of Agriculture (DoA) to obtain a DoA allocated production unit code (PUC) and packhouse code (PHC).
"Growers of registered production units must implement good agricultural practices (GAP), which must include orchard sanitation, use of integrated pest management (IPM), or adequate control measures to ensure that the ROK’s identified quarantine pests of fresh table grapes are eliminated during the production period".
mthobisi.nozulela@iol.co.za
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