September 2025

10 September 2025 – South Africa’s GDP increased by 0.8% in the second quarter, following an increase of 0.1% in the first quarter of the year, Statistics South Africa has reported. The manufacturing industry increased by 1.8%, contributing 0.2 of a percentage point to GDP growth, with seven of the ten manufacturing divisions having reported positive growth rates. The largest positive contributions […]

8 September 2025 – South African container ports have set a new operational milestone, moving a record 18,689 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in a single day during August, the highest daily volume recorded since the pandemic. The achievement, confirmed by the Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), highlights resilience in the country’s maritime sector,

5 September 2025 – The South African Cereals and Oilseeds Trade Association (SACOTA), Agbiz, and Agbiz Grain have already discussed this possibility with Moshe Motlohi, CEO of the newly established Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (TRIM). “In South Africa, the cost of rail is approximately two-thirds of the cost of road transport. This potential saving often

4 September 2025 – Companies looking for new export markets to replace lost American sales may find opportunities through the trade agreements in place with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). The oldest is the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA), which was signed in 1999. The EU liberalised 95% of duties

3 September 2025 – The Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) fell for a second consecutive quarter by 2 points to 63 in Q3 2025. Most respondents highlighted the adverse effects of foot-and-mouth disease and trade frictions with the US as their primary concerns. Moreover, some noted the long-running challenges, such as poor service delivery by

1 September 2025 – South Africa recorded a trade surplus of ZAR 20.3 billion ($1.2 billion) in July 2025, down slightly from a revised ZAR 21 billion in the prior month. Imports jumped by 10.2% over a month to ZAR 164 billion, driven by strong purchases of mineral products (+34%), chemicals (+23%), textiles (+24%) and