South Africa

The Grahamstown High Court recently approved an urgent interim interdict to temporarily ban livestock exports by sea from South Africa until at least 16 July.

The Competition Tribunal (CompTrib) recently published a comprehensive report detailing why it had approved PepsiCo’s approximately US$1,7 billion (about R28 billion) acquisition of Pioneer Foods.

The South African agriculture sector has increased its trade surplus by 16% in the first quarter of 2020, with minimal disruptions experienced due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The South African market is currently able to absorb the volumes of unprocessed milk being produced across the country, despite the lockdown restrictions and high feed prices, which has had a negative impact on producers.

Some South African fresh produce farmers are opting to plough their produce back into the ground rather than sending it to national fresh produce markets due to the low prices they are receiving, according to vegetable farmer Eric Mauwane of Oneo Farms near Tarlton in Gauteng.

A number of the largest agricultural events in South Africa have been cancelled or postponed this year due to restrictions that have been placed on local and international travel and gatherings of large groups of people as part of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown regulations.

Delays at the Cape Town Container Terminal are posing major challenges to the exporting of South Africa’s fresh produce.

For many farmers, the impact of the current fuel price increases will be delayed, given that many producers who are in the process of harvesting and planting would have already stocked up on fuel for the season, according to Pertunia Setumo, agricultural economist at FNB Agribusiness.

South Africa’s maize exports proceeded swiftly during April and May despite disruptions to trade caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Johan Straus, agricultural economist at the University of the Free State.

Although the South African wine industry resumed the domestic sale of liquor products for off-premise consumption by licensed vendors on Monday, the industry is still not out of the woods.

South Africa’s graphic paper value chain has expressed uncertainty about the future, as well as local demand as the economy gradually reopens from the hard lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Fightback from major role players in South Africa’s tobacco value chain, together with some civil rights organisations, against government’s ongoing ban on the legal trade in tobacco products is rapidly gaining momentum.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) recently announced that it would allow power utility Eskom to recover R13,3 billion from customers for electricity supplied in the 2018/2019 financial year.

South Africa currently has inadequate stocks of diesel, and rationing is being implemented to manage demand and preserve stocks. This was according to the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA).

Initiatives to develop and grow South Africa’s black tobacco farmers may come to naught, due to government’s ongoing ban on the manufacture and retail of tobacco products.

After experiencing some significant financial knocks during its first half-year ended 31 March 2020 (H1 2020), Tiger Brands is reportedly undergoing major strategic changes to keep the company viable in a very difficult future trading environment.

Ongoing drought conditions in the main production regions resulted in a more than 20% decline in South Africa’s 2019/2020 mango harvest.

The low supply of maize currently being experienced in South Africa, has resulted in a short-term squeeze and volatility in the market.

Pineapple farmers were happy to benefit from the surprise spike in demand for this tropical fruit as South Africans, left high and dry by the ban on alcoholic drink sales imposed during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, started experimenting with different home-brewed fermented drinks, such as pineapple and ginger beer.

Severe drought conditions still dominated large parts of the Northern Cape, and was prevalent in “smaller patches” of the Eastern Cape, according to agricultural meteorologist, Johan van Den Berg.