South African macadamia farmers eye Asian markets after US tariff jolt
But US President Donald Trump's drive to impose higher tariffs could disrupt that.
Though the 'reciprocal' levies announced by Trump on April 2 — set at 31% for South Africa — have been paused to allow for negotiations, Likhanya said he and fellow macadamia nut farmers were already looking for alternative markets.
'I believe there's much more we can do internationally to explore other markets. There are markets we are talking to. We're talking to India,' Likhanya, 40, told Reuters in an interview at his farm. 'India has 1.5-billion people that are also looking for macadamia. So there's an alternative plan.'
Other South African farmer groups have warned of potential devastation from the US tariffs. Citrus growers, whose annual exports to the US average $100m (R1.77bn), have said tariffs could potentially hit 35,000 jobs in their industry.
Likhanya, a board member at Macadamias South Africa, the main industry body for growers, described the tariff stand-off as a 'lose-lose' situation and hopes it can be resolved.
'America imports kernels which they further process. Those [processing] jobs are threatened. So it's a win-win or lose-lose situation, which I believe we do not want to get into,' he said
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