Discussion paper

The Role of Industry Associations in Export Performance: Comparative Cases of South Africa’s Citrus and Wine Industries

Shingie Chisoro

2025

South Africa’s citrus and wine industries have achieved relative success in global markets to become the country’s leading agri-food exports. However, the two industries have realised relatively different upgrading trajectories in global value chains (GVCs). The citrus industry quickly grew its export earnings to become the world’s second largest citrus exporter, while the wine industry has been slipping the global ranks to become the world’s thirteenth largest wine exporter from seventh place, with declining export earnings since 2010. The role played by industry associations in the export performance of each industry has been central. However, the roles of co-ordination and collective private governance for long-term industry growth, together with engagement with public governance, are not widely understood. Drawing on literature on upgrading in GVCs and collective organisation, this paper analyses the export performance of the two industries through critically reflecting on the key decisions and activities of the respective industry associations to tackle challenges for upgrading in export markets, highlighting the key factors underlying the differences in performance. We consider the composition and interests of member firms, access to and use of organisational resources, investments in collective industry goods and services, and the relationship with the government. We find that citrus and wine both have similar conditions regarding access to resources through industry levies, and the observed differences in export performance boil down to the activities and initiatives that the industries used the resources to invest in, and how they implemented the activities and initiatives, rather than the quantity of levies. It appears that the success of the citrus industry largely stems from the historical decisions of the organisation to invest in collective long-term research and technical capabilities directly creating dynamic efficiencies for producers and upgrading in the product mix. The study has important policy implications for African producers seeking to enter and to participate in agri-food GVCs. Coalitions to generate collective solutions and support long-term investments for African producers in GVCs are more crucial than ever in terms of building capabilities when stakeholders pull together, and industry bodies do not simply lobby for the short-term interests of their most powerful members.