June 2023

15 June 2023 – Forecasts of an El Niño occurrence in the 2023/24 summer outlook should not necessarily imply less investment in agriculture or elevated risk, says Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz). Such fears were likely to bring up memories of the harsh drought in the 2015/16 production season, where […]

14 June 2023 – International trade requirements and restrictions have imposed many challenges for South African fresh produce exporters, but they have risen to the challenge as the demand for local vegetables has intensified. That’s according to economist Thabile Nkunjana, addressing a National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) workshop early this week. The fresh produce sector

12 June 2023 – South Africa’s transport modalities – all of them – are currently unable to support greater economic growth in the country. So warned South African Association of Freight Forwarders CEO Juanita Maree, addressing the forty-fifth Annual SAPICS Conference in Cape Town on Monday. “Supply chain is more about problem solving” than anything else,

12 June 2023 – China is South Africa’s largest trading partner, both overall and within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping. In 2022, China accounted for 9.4% of South Africa’s exports and 20.2% of South Africa’s imports, according to the South African Revenue Service (Sars). In rand terms, exports to China

9 June 2023 – T he shipping industry is facing a significant challenge as volumes on some trade routes have fallen in the past few months. The decrease in trade volume has been observed on several key routes, including those connecting Asia to Europe and the United States. The reasons behind the decline in volume

8 June 2023 – South Africa’s current-account shortfall narrowed more than expected in the first quarter as the value of gold and merchandise exports increased. The deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, shrank to an annualised 1% of gross domestic product, or R66.2 billion, from a revised

7 June 2023 – If the weaker rand/dollar exchange persists, South Africa could contend with noticeable upside pressure on the prices of imported food products, says Agricultural Business Chamber chief economist Wandile Sihlobo. He said on Monday that such a product whose prices were already high in US dollar terms and South Africa imports large

6 June 2023 – Despite record levels of load shedding and aggressive rate hikes, South Africa’s first-quarter GDP grew by 0.4%. This was exactly in line with economists’ consensus forecast, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. The economy shrank by a revised 1.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Growth in the first quarter means

6 June 2023 – South African private sector economic activity contracted for a third consecutive month in May as rolling power cuts and inflationary pressures continued to weigh on business, a survey showed on Monday. The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 47.9 in May, the lowest level since July 2021,

2 June 2023 – The CTRACK Transport and Freight Index (Ctrack TFI) reached its highest level since August 2022 at 121.5 points in April 2023. Four of the six sub-sectors that make up the index increased on a monthly basis, while the two sectors that did decline only did so marginally. On an annual basis,