Rainfall across South Africa gets summer crops off to a good start
A version of this column was published on Business Day on 05 February 2020 My last column two weeks ago painted a bleak picture of SA’s 2019/2020 agricultural outlook, highlighting prospects of drought in some regions of the country. Lately, conditions have improved...
South Africa’s food price inflation to remain subdued in the near term
Since the news that South Africa could be hit by yet another drought, a frequent topic of discussion has been its possible implications on South Africa’s food price inflation. This comes at a time when South Africa’s food price inflation has generally been subdued,...
Thoughts on South Africa’s food price inflation
South Africa’s food price inflation is relatively contained and I am beginning to think that the 3.6% y/y average we expected for 2019 might be an overestimate. The average for the nine months data we have thus far is about 2.9% y/y, which means to average at 3.6% y/y...
VIDEO – a brief comment on South Africa’s food price inflation
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...
SA food producers are struggling to pass costs through to consumers
Since the start of the year, South Africa’s agricultural commodity prices have increased notably from levels seen over the same time in 2018, specifically grains and oilseeds. Under normal circumstances, one would expect the price increases in agricultural commodities...
Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
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.