limpopo
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.
Thursday April 19th, 2018
There has been a lot of writing on the land reform subject since December 2017 when the ruling party adopted the notion of expropriation without compensation. A number of analysts (ourselves included) warned of the unintended consequences of the aforementioned policy proposal.
Friday April 20th, 2018
Agri SA is voicing its concerns over the shocking increase in farm attacks and is requesting an urgent meeting with […]
Monday April 23rd, 2018
The weather is a primary focus in the South African wheat market as the winter wheat planting period approaches. The Western Cape province, which is a leading winter wheat producing province experienced persistent dryness in the past few months, therefore soil moisture is extremely low across the fields.
The province needs to receive intense and persistent rainfall for soil moisture to improve, which will, therefore, add momentum to the planting process. However, the near-term weather forecasts present more of the same, which is cool and dry weather conditions across the province with the exception of the western areas which could receive light showers of between 16 and 25 millimetres in the week of 25 April 2018.
Wednesday April 25th, 2018
Although canola and oats farmers have started planting in parts of the Western Cape province and wheat set to commence soon, the germination process could be slightly delayed. The near-term weather forecast point to a continuous dryness in the Western Cape province within the next two weeks.