Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa

Consumers will benefit from fewer farming pressures

This year promises to be a fairly good one for South African consumers, particularly from a food cost perspective. The deceleration in food inflation that was observed in 2017 could again prevail this year as large grain stocks and the expected good harvest in the current production season continue to underpin the market - Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz economist *This essay first appeared on Business Day on 26 April 2018.

Published: 03/05/2018

SA agricultural trade sustains a good momentum

In February 2018, the cumulative agricultural exports were valued at R20.89 billion leading to a positive net trade of R3.736 billion. Agricultural exports were dominated by the table grapes, stone-fruit, wine, cuttlefish and tilapia - Sifiso Ntombela, trade economist and Agbiz Head: International Trade and Investment Intelligence

Published: 03/05/2018

SA food price inflation decelerates further to 3.5%

Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation decelerated to 3.5% in March 2018, from 3.9% in the previous month. This is the lowest levels since December 2013 - thanks to last season’s robust crop output, as well as deceleration in meat price inflation. While there might be a slight uptick in the coming months in anticipation of the VAT and sugar tax effect, we expect the food and non-alcoholic beverages price inflation to remain at fairly low levels this year cushioned by a large grain stock from the current marketing year, as well as the expectation of a fairly good summer grain harvest - Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz economist

Published: 20/04/2018

Western Cape’s prospects depend on good winter rain

The west coast of South Africa, which is well known for good wines and being the country’ major winter grains producing region, has been saddled with below-normal winter rainfall for the past three years. The impact of this is clear from the Western Cape’s dwindling agricultural output - Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz economist

Published: 13/04/2018

ONLY 30 DAYS LEFT to register for the 2018 Agbiz Congress

We are pleased to announce another international keynote speaker, Dr Neal Gutterson, Chief Technical Officer at Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™. Dr Gutterson will bring us valuable insight on research and development, as well as product development in relation to our congress theme of ‘Uncertainty Creates Opportunity’.

Published: 10/04/2018

Land dynamics in Africa: What is the potential for agricultural expansion?

Estimates by Fischer and Shah (2010) suggest that the world has 446 million hectares of potentially available uncultivated land. Of this, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 202 million hectares or 45 percent - Dr Tinashe Kapuya and Mr Wandile Sihlobo

Published: 05/04/2018

Disease outbreaks show food safety underpins security

Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz economist, commended SA’s food security status in his personal blog in February. This was after the Economist Intelligence Unit placed South Africa at 44th place out of 133 countries worldwide in the 2017 Global Food Security Index. This essentially makes South Africa the most food secure country in the continent. "Some conflated the blog post with land reform issues, arguing that the proposed expropriation without compensation policy would tamper with the progress made thus far. But, my intention was to shed light on the meaning of food security," he wrote.

Published: 29/03/2018

National Dialogue on Land Reform kicked-off this week

Leading scholars and academics, members of civil society, politicians and representatives from the agricultural, agribusiness and banking industries met at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) this week for the first National Dialogue on Land. Academics from the Nelson Mandela University and GIBS took the initiative to arrange an open dialog to ensure that academics and intellectuals do not get side-lined in the process of debating the review of section 25 of the Constitution. Dr John Purchase served as a panellist and made a presentation highlighting the role of agribusiness in the economy, the link with property rights and the manner in which the sector can contribute to land reform within the context of inclusive growth - Theo Boshoff, Agbiz Head: Legal Intelligence

Published: 29/03/2018

South Africa’s summer crop production estimates lifted by 2% from last month

The National Crop Estimates Committee reaffirmed its view that South Africa is in for a good grain and oilseed harvest this season (albeit being less than the record achieved in 2016/17 season). The Committee revised its production estimates upwards by 2% from last month to 14.8 million tonnes. The notable uptick was on white maize, sunflower seed, sorghum and soybeans production - Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz Economist

Published: 28/03/2018

A glimpse into the crystal ball of the storage and handling of grains and oilseeds

The recent mergers of several large global agrochemical and seed companies, their diversification and highly progressive technological approach bring new, innovative technology to agriculture. To keep up with this, the role of the handlers/storage facilities of grain and oilseeds will gradually be expanded - Mariana Purnell, Agbiz Grain