November 2020

16 November 2020 – Global maritime trade should recover next year after tanking by 4.1 percent in 2020 owing to the coronavirus, a UN agency forecast Thursday. “The pandemic has sent shockwaves through supply chains, shipping networks and ports, leading to plummeting cargo volumes and foiling growth prospects,” the United Nations Conference on Trade and […]

13 November 2020 – The pace of contraction in SAs annual mining production picked up in September, with output falling a worse-than-expected 2.8%, led by declines in iron ore and chromium production. This is almost twice the rate of contraction in the Thomson Reuters consensus of a 1.5% drop, with iron ore the biggest factor

12 November 2020 – Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has warned that South Africa’s foreign direct investment will experience a sharp decline next year as the Covid-19 pandemic has driven the appetite for new investments to an all-time low. Patel told a preparatory briefing of the Third South African Investment Conference scheduled for

11 November 2020 – Manufacturing data for the month September picked up slightly from the previous month, but output is still below levels recorded last year, according to Stats SA. Manufacturing data from Stats SA showed that production declined 2.6% year-on-year in September 2020. This is the industry’s sixteenth consecutive month of year-on-year declines. Seven of

10 November 2020 – South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) has announced a revision in the customs declaration process where all bonded goods imported into South Africa must be under sealed containerised conditions. According to section 64D of the Act, the removal of goods in bond states that no person, except if exempted by rule, can

9 November 2020 – WHEN PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa, presenting the government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan to Parliament recently, reflected that “even the darkest clouds have a silver lining”, South African sugar cane farmers could immediately identify with the practical realities of this proverb. Earlier this year, when the Covid-19 pandemic triggered stringent economic lockdowns,

6 November 2020 – The country’s economy is set for a rebound as trade conditions improve in the manufacturing sector, with expectations that the uptick could go for the medium term. The industry’s gauge, the Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose above pre-pandemic levels in September. Absa said the improved sentiment pointed to the fifth

5 November 2020 – Business conditions in the private sector moved into positive territory for the first time in more than a year in October, as an easing of lockdown restrictions supported a recovery in activity, according to the latest IHS Markit SA purchasing managers’ index (PMI). The economy-wide gauge of business conditions rose to

4 November 2020 – THE AGRICULTURAL Business Chamber said yesterday it expected food price inflation to remain subdued for the rest of this year, although rising grain prices presented an upside risk. Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo said the organisation estimated that food price inflation could average about 4.5 percent year on year in 2020, compared

3 November 2020 – The good news keeps pouring in for SA’s agricultural sector, at least from a production perspective. Figures released on October 28 by the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC), a government crop forecasting body, show that SA farmers intend to increase the area planting for summer grains and oilseeds in the 2020/2021 production