R22 Refrigerant phase-out hits SA food sector as supply and compliance pressures rise
By Adrian Ephraim
South Africa’s food manufacturers, cold storage operators, and refrigeration contractors are facing a regulatory cliff edge that has been years in the making and can no longer be deferred.
From 2026, South Africa’s R22 refrigerant import quota has been cut to just 2.5% of current consumption levels, meaning only 80 to 100 tons of these hydrochlorofluorocarbons will be entering the market. For an industry that has relied on R22 as its refrigerant of choice for decades, the implications are immediate.
SARACCA Executive Director David Botha warns that the reduced quota will have a direct impact on the market, compounded by the fact that the industry is not recovering sufficient quantities of R22 to meaningfully supplement dwindling imports. The National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment has been blunt: within two years, operators still reliant on R22 may not have any refrigerant to work with at all.
The regulatory pressure does not stop there. South Africa ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, committing to reducing HFC consumption by 80% over 30 years, with the first mandatory reduction slated for 2029. Operators who simply switch from R22 to HFC alternatives like R404A or R507 are making a short-term decision they will need to revisit within the decade, as these refrigerants are among the first targeted for phase-out under the Kigali agreement.
A-Gas, the global refrigerant lifecycle management company active in South Africa, has outlined three viable pathways for operators. The first is to maintain and retrofit existing R22 systems with drop-in replacements. The second is to invest in flexible equipment capable of handling a wide range of synthetic refrigerants as phase-down milestones progress. The third, and most future-proof, is to adopt natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, CO2, or ammonia, bypassing interim HFC steps entirely.
Each pathway carries trade-offs. Drop-in replacements offer compliance benefits but come with performance impacts, retrofit costs, and the need for specialised training. On the skills front, natural refrigerants are abundant and energy-efficient, but their flammability and toxicity make urgent investment in workforce training essential. SARACCA is intensifying efforts to address this, focusing on refrigerant recovery programmes and technician upskilling across its membership.
This regulatory crunch is arriving at a moment of significant commercial momentum in the cold chain sector. The Africa cold chain market was valued at approximately $12.87 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $18.29 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.1%. South Africa remains the continent’s most developed cold chain economy, but only if its refrigeration infrastructure keeps pace with both regulation and demand.
The most visible signal of investor confidence is Maersk’s Belcon Cold Store in Cape Town, inaugurated in October 2025. The facility represents more than R1.72 billion in investment and delivers 6.8 MW of cooling capacity using advanced CO2 refrigeration systems, achieving around 20% greater efficiency than originally projected. Belcon is built around CO2, precisely the natural refrigerant technology that the broader sector is being urged to adopt.
The commercial case for investment is clear. South Africa’s table grape sector alone has suffered annual losses of up to R1.5 billion due to logistical delays and temperature disruptions. New 2025 regulations now mandate real-time temperature monitoring and PPECB certification for all perishable exports, adding further compliance urgency for food manufacturers and cold storage operators.
For the sector, the message is consistent: the window to act on refrigerant transition is narrowing, and the cost of inaction, in compliance penalties, equipment failure, and lost export competitiveness, is rising. Operators who treat the R22 phase-out as an opportunity to upgrade to efficient, future-proof refrigeration systems will be best placed to serve South Africa’s growing agricultural export economy. The cold chain is not a back-office function. For a country whose export sector depends on temperature integrity from farm to port, it is infrastructure in every meaningful sense.
