January 2022

31 January 2022 – LEMON producers in the country are on tenterhooks over an impeding decision by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on whether South Africa is dumping lemons in that country, which may effectively close off a viable market for the local industry. While there are various products including lemon juice concentrates, cosmetics, […]

28 January 2022 – As widely expected, South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) governor Lesetja Kganyago announced a 25 basis points increase in the repo rate on Thursday, taking the key rate that it lends to commercial banks to 4%. This means that the prime lending rate of commercial banks will increase to 7.5%. The decision follows the

27 January 2022 – Normalisation means different things in different economies. In the developed world, it entails lifting off the zero lower bound. The UK, Norway, and New Zealand are the first major economies to have started their hiking cycles. In emerging markets, the process has also begun, but from a significantly different starting point.

26 January 2022 – Aside from the locusts spreading in parts of the Northern and Eastern Cape and threatening the grazing veld, the primary concern for much of South Africa has been the excessive rains. At the start of the 2021/22 production season in October 2021, farmers were optimistic. They planned to lift the area plantings to summer

25 January 2022 – Wine industry association Vinpro has announced that many South African wine grape producers are expecting a smaller-than-usual wine grape crop. This forecast for the imminent harvest season – which typically runs from January to April – is based on the second of four crop estimates issued by viticulturists and producer cellars

24 January 2022 – The high global trade growth in 2021 is expected to moderate in 2022 while supply chain disruptions are expected to continue for at least the first six months of the year. This is according to maritime analysts at IHS Markit who are anticipating that year-on-year the real value of global trade

21 January 2022 – The United States-China trade war started in 2018 and has never officially ended. So, which side has been “winning” it? Recent research offers an unambiguous answer: neither. US tariffs on Chinese goods led to higher import prices in the US in the affected product categories, and China’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods ended up hurting

20 January 2022 – Despite being negatively impacted by a series of local alcohol sales bans, global freight and localised port issues, and a shortage of glass and packaging materials, export volumes of South African wine recovered to a healthier volume of 388-million litres, while the total value of local exports grew to R10.2-billion in 2021. South African wines nonprofit promotional

19 January 2022 – Twenty percent of grain producers in South Africa have lost more than 60% of their white maize plantings to water damage so far in 2022, according to a survey done by Grain SA earlier in January 2022. Fifteen percent of yellow maize, 13% of soya bean and 17% of sunflower that

18 January 2022 – Entrepreneurs invest a lot of energy into getting their businesses off the ground and finding ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, few put the same dedicated effort into finding the best insurance solution for their business. Every business is unique, and there is no guarantee