January 2022

17 January 2022 – South Africa’s economy is likely to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2022, reverting to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the World Bank has forecast, but warned that constraints on long-term growth, large-scale unemployment and inequalities still persisted. “Growth in South Africa is forecast to revert […]

14 January 2022 – The country’s wineries face another shutdown as Covid – and the government response – threaten to cripple the industry. There is a deadly disease inflicting untold misery and hardship on the citizens of the Western Cape, but it isn’t Covid – global overreaction, institutional incompetence and coronavirus myopia are the real

13 January 2022 – The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has reported that world food prices fell slightly in December as international prices for vegetable oils and sugar fell significantly from lofty levels. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 133.7 points in December, a 0.9% decline from November but still up 23.1% from

12 January 2022 – Risks related to the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty regarding load shedding continue to weigh on local manufacturers, despite positive news regarding domestic and export sales volumes as well as fixed investment levels, the Q4 Absa Manufacturing Survey shows. Overall, business confidence dipped by three points to 38

11 January 2022 – Transnet has blamed the congestion in Cape Town port at the peak of the deciduous fruit season largely on staffing issues and inclement weather, including fog and high wind speeds of up to 90 kilometres per hour. This comes after port users and transporters highlighted growing concern about backlogs at the

10 January 2022 – US think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has published its 2021 report on Trade-Related Illicit Financial Flows in 134 Developing Countries, for the years 2009 to 2018. Trade misinvoicing remains a major challenge for tax and customs authorities around the world, averaging a global loss of some $1.4 trillion per annum. It is

6 January 2022 – South Africa is imposing provisional anti-dumping duties on chicken imports from Brazil and four European Union countries – Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain – as they have become a major threat to the country’s poultry industry. Not-for-profit trade movement FairPlay has welcomed the move saying that the provisional duties will remain

5 January 2022 – The situation at the port of Cape Town is “not great”, says Mike Walwyn, vice-chairperson of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders. “We have vessels waiting outside from as long ago as 25 December. The access to port has been hampered by strong winds with the result that truck congestion

4 January 2022 –  For agricultural economist Lunathi Hlakanyane, the success of the kiwifruit, blueberry and mushroom markets in the last year make these commodities the ones farmers should be looking towards to expand their operations. Despite being rather small, these markets flourished during a highly uncertain time in the country’s agricultural sector. Hlakanyane says

3 January 2022 – South Africa recorded a trade surplus of R35.83 billion in November, from a revised surplus of R27.68 billion in October, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) reported on Tuesday. According to Trading Economics, the November surplus was well above the market’s consensus expectation of only R16.8 billion. Despite the strong number, the rand