September 2020

15 September 2020 – The Agbiz/Industrial Development Corporation Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) rebounded to 51 in the third quarter. This follows a deterioration to 39 in the second quarter, a period which had heightened uncertainty about whether the agriculture and agribusiness sectors would operate efficiently, when most sectors of the economy were closed under lockdown […]

14 September 2020 – South Africa’s current account balance swung to a deficit in the second quarter of this year from the previous three months as the trade surplus more than halved due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Africa’s most industrialised economy had a deficit of 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on

11 September 2020 – Manufacturing production decreased by 10.6% year-on-year in July, with the largest decline in furniture and other manufacturing, which declined by 39.1% and contributed -1.4 percentage points to the overall decline. The second highest decline was in motor vehicles, parts, accessories and other transport equipment, which declined by 26.9% during the month and

10 September 2020 – The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has brought uncertainty in global trade because of disruptions it is causing in global supply chains and weakening demand. South Africa’s agricultural sector, which is export-orientated, is one of the sectors we had feared would be disrupted by the pandemic, as we witnessed a couple of disruptions

The punch in the gut was severe. Perhaps the second quarter of 2020 will become known as the pandemic quarter. South Africa’s economy suffered a significant contraction during April, May and June, when the country operated under widespread lockdown restrictions in response to COVID-19. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by just over 16% between the

8 September 2020 – The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) reported on September 7 that its Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) was less pessimistic during the third quarter. After the index crashed from -9 index points in the first quarter of 2020 to a 35-year low of -33 in the second quarter, the CCI edged up

7 September 2020 – Between June and July of this year, South Africa’s total trade (exports + imports) increased by 12 percent. Since May, South Africa has a trade surplus (global exports exceed imports) and although the trade surplus for July is lightly lower than the trade surplus recorded in June, it is almost three

4 September 2020 – The reports of a potential La Niña event during the coming summer months presents mixed fortunes for Southern and East Africa’s agriculture. For parts of East Africa, the La Niña weather event typically correlates with below-average rainfall in the months between December and February, while Southern Africa experiences wetter conditions over the same period. What

2 September 2020 – Conditions in the manufacturing sector improved further last month and rose above pre-pandemic levels as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were relaxed to Level 2. The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), today posted a robust increase to 57.3 index points in August, up from 51.2

1 September 2020 – The UVI for exported commodities shows an annual rate of change of 8,7% in June 2020. From May 2020 to June 2020 the UVI for exported commodities decreased by 1,0%. The main contributors to the annual rate of 8,7% were metal products, machinery and equipment (7,9 percentage points) and ores and