Meeting to shed light on the preservation of Cape wine and citrus exports under AGOA

Tamorlan via Wikimedia Commons

"We are also encouraged that Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has agreed to meet with an agricultural delegation from the Western Cape on Thursday morning, to provide a briefing on the remaining steps to be taken to secure ongoing AGOA benefits for Cape exporters" said Wesgro CEO Tim Harris

"Western Cape wine, citrus fruit, fruit juice and dried fruit exports to the USA under AGOA amount to more than R780m annually. It is important that the sectors that could be affected by a change in the agreement understand exactly what government is doing to preserve their preferential access to the US market" Harris continued.

The Western Cape is the tenth largest exporter of wine to the United States but competition is stiff from countries like Chile and Australia - who also currently enjoy preferential import tariffs. Western Cape exporters stand to lose a great deal if AGOA benefits are removed. Equally, countries such as Mexico and Chile are highly competitive exporters of fruit to the US and would be able to take advantage of the introduction of a tariff on Western Cape citrus exports to the US - at the expense of the 4,000 citizens of the province employed in the citrus industry.

Tim Harris is the Chief Executive of Wesgro, the Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape