South Africa further strengthens its position as production base for global commercial exploitation of new plant varieties

Plant breeders’ rights remain central in securing investment in local production capacity

South Africa has opened a new export market for locally produced cherries.

On 8 September 2026, South Africa and China signed a protocol permitting the export of South African produced cherries to China for the first time. China imported about 586,900 tonnes of cherries in 2025, from other sources, with a value of approximately US$3.3 billion.

Qualifying South African cherries may now benefit from a 0% import tariff preference, subject to the applicable rules of origin, certification and phytosanitary requirements.

Cherry production is already well established in South Africa and has shown volume growth over the past decade. Data compiled by Hortgrow show that the area planted to cherries increased from 185 hectares in 2012 to more than 800 hectares by 2024. The industry is also export focused. In the 2025/26 season, South African cherry exports increased year-on-year by 111% to 487,871 cartons.

The new Chinese market is therefore opening to an existing production sector with established growers, packhouses and export channels.

The same pattern is emerging beyond cherries, in that negotiations are currently also underway for access to China for South African blueberries. The Department of Agriculture stated in September 2026 that these negotiations were at an advanced stage. China had submitted a draft import protocol to South Africa, with the South African government seeking to finalise the process before the end of 2026.

South Africa already has a strongly established blueberry industry.  Commercial plantings have expanded from a few hundred hectares a decade ago to several thousand hectares. The industry is export driven, with annual exports now measuring tens of thousands of tonnes. The United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East remain important markets.

These developments do not only create immediate opportunities for South African cherry and, potentially, blueberry growers, but it also further strengthens South Africa’s position as a global production base in the commercial exploitation of new plant varieties, including those developed abroad.

The South African government’s support in developing new channels for agricultural exports is also encouraging and, in combination with the presence of established local commercial growers, propagation infrastructure, packhouses, export supply chains, lower cost bases, and a wide diversity of climatic regions, it creates a strong case for investment in the exploitation of new varieties in the country, including with the purpose of generating supply for Northern Hemisphere markets out of season.

Investment of course benefits from security, and in the context of new plant varieties South Africa in this regard offers a robust plant variety protection system, grounded in its new Plant Breeders Rights Act 12 of 2018, which came into force in the middle of 2025, thus repealing the outdated 1976 Act.

The 2018 act aligns more closely with UPOV 1991 and extends protection to plants of all genera and species that comply with the registrability requirements, whereas plants previously had to be declared before being eligible for protection.  For more details, see our earlier article on the 2018 act.

In pursuing plant breeders’ rights in South Africa, foreign proprietors must be represented by a local agent.  Adams & Adams has for more than 30 years been assisting foreign proprietors in this regard, including in the local licensing and enforcement of their rights.