landbou
Apr 11, 2018
There is generally some optimism in the South African maize market following good rainfall received in the past few weeks. Last night, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lifted its estimate for South Africa’s 2017/18 maize production by 200 000 tonnes from last month to 13.2 million tonnes.
Apr 12, 2018
Our recent interactions with farmers in some soybean growing areas support the National Crop Estimates Committee’s (CEC) view of a possible record crop of 1.39 million tonnes in the 2017/18 production season. The yields expectations vary across the country, mainly ranging from average and above average yield
Apr 12, 2018
The South African tractor sales were up by 41% y/y in March 2018, with 726 units sold. This follows a 12% y/y contraction in February. On average, 23 tractors were sold a day last month compared to 21 tractors in February 2018 and 16 tractors a day in March 2017. Given that this is a fairly quiet period in the fields (in both summer and winter crop growing areas), the private sales were expected to have followed a normal trend, but the overall boost could be linked to government tenders ahead of the end of the financial year. The combine harvester sales were also solid, recorded a 9% y/y uptick, with 25 units sold.
Apr 13, 2018
The 2015-16 drought led to higher slaughtering activity in livestock industry (cattle, pigs and sheep) as farmers struggled to feed their stock amid higher feed costs, coupled with drier pastures.
Apr 16, 2018
Drier and warm weather conditions have kept the US wheat on the back foot. On 08 April 2018, farmers had planted only 2 percent of the intended area for spring wheat, well below the area planted at the corresponding period last year, according to data from the USDA.
Apr 18, 2018
It seems that the winter rainfall, which typically starts at the end April in the Western Cape province, could be slightly delayed. The weather charts have cleared across most parts of the province, with light showers expected within the next eight days to be mainly concentrated towards the coastal areas.