Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books, “A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions” and “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
Sihlobo is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.
He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.
His weekly podcast, “Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo“, is available on all podcast platforms.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.
Nigeria wants to jail people for exporting maize
The Nigerian government wants to ban the exports of maize. Since Nigeria is a prominent African country, this has caught some headlines. But, Nigeria is not an essential player in the maize trade. I am looking at Nigeria’s maize export data from 1960; the highest export volume was in 2016, at about 200k tonnes.
South Africa’s beef exports are improving excellently
In the first three quarters of this year, the country’s cumulative beef exports were up 25% from the same period in 2023, at US$136 million. The key markets include China, Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Mozambique, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Planting progress and heatwave challenges
The forecasts for La Niña remain active, and we have received some scattered rains across South Africa, which have helped immensely with the planting so far. We have various regions that have planted much of the crop.
Global food prices nudged up
The FAO’s global Food Price Index, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, increased by 0,5% in November 2024 from the previous month to 127 points.
A favourable winter crop season bodes well for food supplies in SA
In the last week of November 2024, the Crop Estimates Committee slashed its winter crop production estimate by 1,6% month-on-month (m/m) to 2,68 million tonnes. From an annual basis, the harvest is down by roughly the same percentage, 1,5%, from the 2023-24 season. This estimate comprises wheat, barley, canola, oats and sweet lupines.
South Africa’s consumer food price inflation is at its lowest level since May 2019
We are ending this year with food price inflation – the rate at which prices are increasing – cooling off the levels we have not seen in years. For example, having stabilized at 4,1% in September 2024, South Africa’s consumer food price inflation slowed notably to 2,8% in October. This is the lowest level since May 2019.
Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books, “A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions” and “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
Sihlobo is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.
He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.
His weekly podcast, “Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo“, is available on all podcast platforms.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.