January 2024

31 January 2024 – Allianz Trade country risk atlas for South Africa 2024: B3 rating, sensitive risk for enterprises Strengths: Despite challenges such as load shedding, poor infrastructure and modest employment rates, South Africa exhibited positive economic performance in 2023, with declining trends in insolvencies and reduced external vulnerabilities The budget deficit presented a positive […]

30 January 2024 – As the European Union’s (EU’s) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) became effective from October 1 last year, South Africa remains highly vulnerable and will likely pay high amounts of carbon tax. The first CBAM report for the fourth quarter of 2023 will be published on January 31. The transition period for CBAM has

29 January 2024 – To put this in perspective, export volumes declined by 5% to 368 million litres in 2022, after increasing by 22% to 388 million litres in 2021. A closer evaluation revealed that volumes of all the wine categories were down in 2023, except for the Other Single Red Cultivar category, which increased

25 January 2024 – Shippers, freight forwarders and the liner trade can expect more pain in February as vessel traffic through the Suez Canal continues to suffer from Houthi rebels attacking commercial carriers in the Red Sea. Western naval counter-attacks against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen have added to widening tension in the area, turning the

24 January 2024 – Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) released its latest figures on Monday, specifically looking at how many companies and businesses have been liquidated in the last year. According to the data, SA experienced more than 1,600 liquidations in 2023. While not the best news, the number of companies that have closed or failed

23 January 2024 – The Citrus Growers Association South Africa was cautiously optimistic about 2024 as fruit on the trees indicated an increased crop but there were concerns about getting the fruit to markets, CEO of the association Justin Chadwick said on Friday. In South Africa the citrus season starts with lemons in February and

21 January 2024 – Fitch Ratings – Hong Kong – 19 Jan 2024: Fitch Ratings has affirmed South Africa’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BB-‘ with a Stable Outlook. KEY RATING DRIVERS Credit Fundamentals: South Africa’s ‘BB-‘ IDR is constrained by low real GDP growth, a high level of inequality, a high and rising government

19 January 2024 – After a four-year decline in poultry imports into South Africa, figures for the first 11 months of 2023 are already higher than the total for 2022. This means that chicken imports in 2023 will comfortably exceed the previous year for the first time since 2018. That’s according to advocacy group FairPlay,

18 January 2024 – Global trade costs have risen this month, while South Africa awaited a decision on African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said in a trade note. This was after 2023’s slowing, and supply chain capacity had already seen a high level of underutilisation, although some container freight

17 January 2024 – Africa’s role in global trade is trending. According to a recent report by Standard Chartered – Future of Trade: Africa, Africa’s total exports will reach almost $1tn by 2035. The World Bank recently reported that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is predicted to increase intra-African trade volumes by 81%,