#southafrica
Wednesday April 4th, 2018
The South African wheat market had a good run at the start of this week and settled in positive territory. This was mainly underpinned by the weaker Rand against the US Dollar, as well as higher Chicago wheat prices.
Thursday April 12th, 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
Thursday April 12th, 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.
Friday April 13th, 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.
Monday April 16th, 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.
Tuesday April 17th, 2018
Yesterday we indicated that sub-Saharan Africa’s 2017/18 wheat imports could reach 26 million tonnes, up by 18 percent from the previous season. What we didn’t mention is that the leading wheat importers within the sub-Saharan African region are Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire.