South Africa

Four South African chemicals companies have received approval from the country’s Competition Tribunal (CompTrib) to continue with their arrangement to trade ammonia between each other.

The current El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is in a weak La Niña phase, which is expected to continue until early autumn, according to Weather SA’s long-term weather forecaster, Cobus Olivier.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa used the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, to assure foreign governments and international private sector investors that South Africa was open for business.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has confirmed that it has started advertising for a new director-general (DG).

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) is assisting township dwellers in South Africa to have the title deeds for the properties on which they live, transferred to them.

Cape Town residents have fewer than 80 days until taps are expected to run dry. Due to a further drop in dam levels, Day Zero for the city has been moved forward to 12 April 2018.

There was no indication that Brexit would have any impact on the South African dairy industry. This was the reaction from George Kuyler, SA’s Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO) chairperson, following an article in the UK’s Farmers Weekly magazine.

A total of R111 million was spent on yearling racehorse prospects at the Cape Premier Yearling Sales at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 21 and 22 January.

The annual inflation increase for both farm and forestry worker wages have brought the possible mandatory May 2018 minimum wage into question again.

The South African grain production industry is faced with uncertainty around production, the number of hectares planted and the full effects of the drought, said Grain SA economist Michelle Mokone.

The good news is that rainfall conditions for most of the summer rainfall region are likely to improve from mid- to late summer. The bad news is that drought conditions are expected to continue in the winter rainfall region. This is according to Johan van den Berg, manager of Specialised Crop Insurance at Santam Agriculture.

According to Wandile Sihlobo, agricultural economist and head of agribusiness research at Agbiz, current forecasts indicated that the petrol and diesel prices could decrease by 34c/ℓ and 19c/ℓ respectively in February.

The producer price for milk reached R5,10/ℓ to R5,20/ℓ in December, its highest level since 2014, according to the Milk Producer’s Organisation (MPO).

Despite a stronger rand:dollar exchange rate, the South African wool market started the season on a positive note, as a result of strong demand for wool globally, with the Merino Indicator closing at R188,08 (clean).

For the first time since the competition was initiated in 1834, a category for cream has been included in the South African Dairy Championships.

Current assessments put the damage suffered by table grape producers in the Olifants River production region following the heatwave experienced during December last year, at about 500 000 cartons of 4,5kg each.

Agri industry stakeholders have expressed confusion about whether the proposed drought charge recently announced by the City of Cape Town, would be levied on farms within the municipal limits.

Macadamia farmers in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal stand to gain from a major new export contract.

Tensions are reportedly running high in the Tarlton area in Gauteng, following the shooting of a farmworker on Saturday. The 43-year-old victim, whose identity has not yet been made public, had allegedly taken a tractor without the permission of the owner.

Johann Breytenbach, general manager for the Free State Umbrella Fire Protection Association, (FSUFPA) said that as yet, no one had been apprehended for starting a veld fire that destroyed nearly 70 000ha of grazing south of Boshof in the western Free State on 6 January.