South Africa is practically converting nearing access for its cherry crop in China into local retail advantage, amid upshot demand.
Pretoria has in the past few months been anticipating feedback from Beijing on initial bilateral cherry trade – with analysts betting on a 2026-27 start.
The anticipation stems from October 2025 when the Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen secured China access for stone fruits including apricots, plums, prunes, nectarines and pears.
During the same visit, Steenhuisen won assurance that plant inspectors would tour South Africa to review blueberry and cherry import suitability.
Now the waiting dream seems to be working domestically as retail chains and grocers court a maturing consumer base.
Cleo Delcarme of Woolworths told Sunday Times in a January 10 story that “from a retail perspective, the market for cherries has improved.”
Delcarme cited branching out production across many new areas countrywide in tandem with growing consumer acceptance.
Another survey by Food Lover’s Market via the Times showed that branded sales have lately risen 10-12% annually due to consumer awareness.
Cultural drivers of retail sales that are also leaving their mark range from popular cherry recipes to social media recommendations and festival utility.
China Allure and Varieties
This leaves the important economic driver of cultivating superior fruit through assertive varieties that can win over hard bets like China.
Although about 41% of South Africa’s cherry orchards are only five-year old, they are already multi-variety and suit diverse market segments.
Traditional and low-chill sweet cherry (Prunus avium) types from Royal Hazel to Lapins currently do well in especially Ceres, Western Cape.
The province is leading the quality revolution by breeding much of the country’s current 80 cherry cultivars.
There is also the advantage of export timing, with South Africa targeting weeks 41 through 52 of the year.
South Africa’s cherries are usually ready for marketing from week 41, just a fortnight before Chile’s. But both southern hemisphere countries are usually in peak shipping timings from week 46 onward.
Despite SA’s oriental market proximity, it still have to compete with Chile’s improving logistics via the new Tiajing port in northern China.
But before the China conquest, the country will need to check spotted wing drosophila (SWD) pests. The SWD were in early December 2025 affecting blueberries and were posing a threat to cherries. Controls, if any, will help grow cherry exports and retail within South Africa side by side, per the below stats.
South Africa Cherry Retail Statistics
The cherry industry of South Africa is still in its infancy, with 40% of orchards dating to as recent as 2017. However, local retail has grown hand-in-hand with burgeoning foreign trade, representing 28% of production versus 58% exports. Exclusively sweet cherry, total national production in 2025 hit a record 3,006 tonnes, 61% of which from Western Cape.
With such rapid growth, domestic regional sales have expanded rapidly. In the 2024-25 season, Johannesburg represented 50% of township sales, followed by Pretoria (18%), Durban (16%) and Cape Town (12%). Johannesburg is notably the capital of Gauteng, producer of 12% of the national harvest.
What is the historical share of the local cherry market in SA?
Domestic sales of South Africa’s cherries have peaked in 2024-25 at over 1,600 tonnes or 28% of production. This is per a Press Reader/Sunday Times graphical representation:
| Season | Domestic Market Share [tonnes] |
| 2024-25 | Over1,600 tonnes |
| 2023-24 | Below 1,600 tonnes |
| 2022-23 | About 1,000 tonnes |
| 2021-22 | About 1,300 tonnes |
| 2020-21 | Below 800 tonnes |