March 2023

16 March 2023 – South Africa is set to see a shift from air freight as importers and exporters eye tumbling sea freight rates and improved ocean reliability. The automotive industry in particular will rely less on air, delegates heard at last week’s Air Cargo Africa event in Johannesburg. “The market has been very volatile,” […]

15 March 2023 – After a solid performance of 8,8% y/y in 2021, we thought South Africa’s agricultural gross value added would contract mildly in 2022. But the data released today by Statistics South Africa paints a slightly positive picture, showing that the sector expanded somewhat by 0,3% y/y. We based our view of a potential contraction

14 March 2023 – S&P Global unexpectedly downgraded South Africa’s credit rating outlook to stable from positive on Wednesday evening. In an unscheduled announcement, the US credit rating agency cautioned that South Africa’s economic growth is facing increasing pressure from severe electricity shortages. “Reforms to address infrastructure shortfalls and to improve governance and performance at

13 March 2023 – Up to a quarter of South African oranges destined for the European Union (EU) might not be shipped due to the impact of load shedding, in addition to new EU regulations – posing a potential loss of more than R500 million for local farmers this year. This warning went out from

10 March 2023 – South Africa’s current account balance switched to a deficit of 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the final quarter of 2022 from a small surplus in the third quarter, central bank data showed on Thursday. In rand terms the current account deficit for the October to December period was R174-billion from

Having been hit by a plethora of bad news this week, the rand is eyeing its worst level since the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and appears set to break through R19/$. News on Tuesday that SA’s economy performed far worse than expected in the fourth quarter — mainly as a result of persistent

8 March 2023 – Confidence in South Africa’s private sector regarding the year ahead has declined for the fifth month running to the weakest level since May 2022, in spite of activity rebounding. The S&P Global on Friday released the South Africa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). The PMI returned to growth territory in February, printing

7 March 2023 – South African exports to the tune of R27 billion a year are at risk following the introduction of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). CBAM, a strategy for reaching the EU’s 2050 carbon emission-cutting goal, is expected to impact South Africa’s steel, aluminium, iron, cement, fertiliser, electricity and hydrogen

South African agricultural exports were up for the third consecutive year in 2022, reflecting favourable production conditions and higher commodity prices. The export numbers for the full year have not yet been published. I have calculated the annual data for 2022 using quarterly trade export statistics published by Trade Map, a trade statistics portal developed by the International Trade

South Africa recorded 81 business liquidations in January 2023, down 32.5% from the 120 businesses that shut their doors in January 2022. Recent data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) shows that the number of company liquidations decreased by 42 cases, while liquidations of closed corporations increased by three cases during this period. According to