October 2025

15 October 2025 – South Africa’s business confidence continued to improve in September, boosted by stronger financial market performance, rising commodity prices, and higher export volumes, according to the latest South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) Business Confidence Index (BCI) released on Tuesday. The BCI climbed 1.1 points month-on-month and 10.9 points year-on-year […]

14 October 2025 – Global merchandise trade outpaced expectations in the first half of 2025, driven by increased spending on AI-related products, a surge in North American imports ahead of tariff hikes, and strong trade among the rest of the world. In response, WTO economists have raised the 2025 merchandise trade growth forecast to 2.4%

13 October 2025 – SE-listed KAL Group has stated that new U.S. tariffs may create challenges for niche agricultural sectors, but are unlikely to significantly affect South Africa’s overall agricultural recovery. Instead, they could accelerate diversification into other markets. KAL Group CEO Sean Walsh said global trade flows are shifting in ways that may benefit

10 October 2025 – Global container freight markets are showing increasing signs of weakness, with spot rates continuing their downward trend amid worsening supply–demand dynamics and growing overcapacity concerns. This has also been confirmed by the latest Cargo Movement Update (CMU) compiled by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders and Business Unity SA. The

09 October 2025 – The UNCTAD FDI Explorer shows tracks shifts in global investment flows. Users can explore data by region or economy and compare trends since 1990. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) edged up 4% in 2024 to $1.5 trillion. But the headline figure masks sharp underlying weaknesses and was inflated by volatile financial transactions

8 October 2025 – The poultry industry has cautioned that the expired African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the rising chicken imports from the US will disadvantage local farmers and producers. They argue that the abandoning of anti-dumping rules to allow the US to export duty free chicken into South Africa nullifies the poultry

7 October 2025 – African countries face a heavy financial blow, especially the textile and apparel sector, which will be the hardest hit in the coming months after the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) expired this week. Agoa has provided duty-free access to the US market for goods from 32 African countries for a

6 October 2025 – The potential for South African wine in Africa is growing, and the local wine industry is focusing its efforts on growing sales in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This was according to Rico Basson, CEO of South Africa Wine, speaking at a Nedbank-hosted session about international trade and tariffs at Nampo

3 October 2025 – The latest trade statistics released by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on 30 September 2025 reveal a paradox at the heart of the national economy. In August, South Africa posted a preliminary trade surplus of R4.0 billion, with exports at R171.3 billion against imports of R167.4 billion. On the surface,

02 October 2025 – There is bipartisan support in Washington for a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which waived US duties on thousands of goods from sub-Saharan African countries for the past 25 years. But companies that invested in factories and farms to take advantage of duty-free access say even a