by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 18, 2019 | Food Security
I didn’t get to write a note on South Africa’s food price inflation data, which accelerated to 3.8% y/y in August 2019, from 3.0% y/y in July. I was in Lichtenburg, North West sharing thoughts with farmers and agribusiness there. The mood was generally positive, but...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 17, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
Farmer’s Weekly carried an article noting South African farmers’ concern that Botswana’s ambitions to export live cattle which could end up in South Africa, would add pressure on prices. This is an understandable concern given that the South African beef industry has...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 16, 2019 | Agricultural Production
It’s not been a good year for South Africa’s agricultural sector. Production has been down thanks to the dry spell, but the weatherman sees plenty of rain on the horizon. Statistics South Africa released second-quarter figures in September which showed seasonally...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 14, 2019 | Agricultural Production
If there is one crop that South Africa has managed to lift its production in the recent past it is – soybeans. Its production has grown significantly since the dawn of democracy, from 67 700 tonnes in the 1993/94 production season to 1.6 million tonnes in 2017/18....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 12, 2019 | Agricultural Production
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also joined the party in forecasting a potentially big maize harvest for South Africa in 2019/20 season. The agency placed its estimate at 14.0 million tonnes, which would be a notable recovery from the current season’s crop of...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 11, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
This has not been a good year for the global wool industry. The world’s top two wool-producing countries – Australia and South Africa — are experiencing different, yet growth-constraining, challenges. In South Africa, the challenge is trade-related. Earlier this...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 6, 2019 | Agricultural Production
This has not been a good year for southern Africa’s agricultural economy. The drought that started in October 2018 in some countries in the region and continued into 2019 has led to a double-digit decline in crop harvests. Take Kenya, SA, Zimbabwe and Zambia: maize...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 5, 2019 | Agricultural Machinery
This has not been a good year for South Africa’s farming sector and related industries. The effects of poor summer crop harvest which in turn influence farmers’ financial position have spilt over to the agricultural machinery market which has been subdued all...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 3, 2019 | Agricultural Production
Although South Africa’s economy has recovered from the previous quarter’s poor economic performance with a 3.1% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted growth rate (q/q saar), agriculture did not contribute to the improvement. After a strong contraction (16.8%) during...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Aug 29, 2019 | Food Security
If there was ever a time when incentives could help reduce the spread of animal disease, it is probably now in South Africa. Since April 2019 there have been 14 reported outbreaks of African swine fever in South Africa. All are in areas of the North West, Mpumalanga,...
