by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 15, 2020 | Agricultural Production
One feature that has characterised global agricultural markets over the past few weeks is rising prices. The growing demand from China as the country rebuilds its pig herd, which was decimated by African swine fever, combined with dry weather conditions that adversely...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 27, 2020 | Daily Notes
My aim in this morning’s blog post is to provide an update of South Africa’s grain trade data for the week of 18 September 2020. I will also share highlights from the International Grain Council monthly global grains update report. SA grain trade data South Africa...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 25, 2020 | General Comments
The global grains environment has changed somewhat from the optimistic picture of a few weeks ago. The increased dryness in parts of Europe and the US is weighing on global crop production, specifically maize and wheat, and this has raised the prospects for downward...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 27, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This promises to be a good year for South Africa’s grain sector, at least from a production front. The data released yesterday by the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) show that South Africa’s 2019/20 summer grains production could increase by 26% y/y to 16.8 million...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 26, 2020 | Agricultural Production
South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee releases its first estimate of the country’s 2019/20 summer crop harvest today. Market expectations are largely positive because of two factors. First, the area planted for major summer crops such as maize, soybeans and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 18, 2020 | Agricultural Production
Nowadays we take for granted how the world agricultural productivity has improved over the past couple of decades. Today’s farms produce more maize, wheat, soybeans, etc. per hectare than any other time in history. This has been made possible by, amongst other...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 12, 2020 | Agricultural Production
We had important data out overnight – the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, produced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The commodities I typically pay close attention to in this report are wheat, maize and soybeans, for...