by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 7, 2020 | Daily Notes
South Africa’s tractors sales maintained the positive path in September 2020, which has been underway since June, increasing by 23% y/y with 529 units sold (see Exhibit 1). This was boosted, to a certain extent, by improved farmers’ financial position following a...
by Wandile Sihlobo | May 17, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This essay first appeared on Business Day, May 12, 2020 No industry will escape the economic pain of the Covid-19 pandemic. The high-frequency economic data for industries that are classified as non-essential during the lockdown period already shows the negative...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 7, 2020 | Agricultural Production
The South African agricultural machinery market started the year on a bad footing. Tractor sales were down 14% y/y, with 333 units sold. This is the lowest monthly sales data that has been recorded over the past six years – see Exhibit 1. This sales data is, however,...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jan 15, 2020 | Agricultural Production
After a brief downtime from blogging, I am finally adjusting back to my normal routine, and today’s comment will briefly reflect on South Africa’s agricultural machinery market performance in 2019. This is one of those sectors that “feels the cold when farmers are...
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...