The U.S. and South Africa concluded an agreement Jan. 7 on sanitary barriers and related health certificates for US beef, pork and poultry products exported to South Africa. The South African market had previously been closed to U.S. poultry since 2000, beef since 2003 and pork since 2013.
With the removal of the barriers, U.S. exports of meat to South Africa could reach $75 million annually.
The United States began shipping poultry to South Africa earlier this year under the terms of the agreement, with USDA detailing those exports totaled almost 12,000 tonnes, worth $7.2 million, in the first quarter of 2016.