The Xchange Platform Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo

The 2024 mid-summer drought continues to weigh on the summer crop harvest

--:--
South Africa is on its eighth summer grain and oilseeds production forecast for the 2023-24 season. There are two more monthly reports to follow. Given that we are at the tail end of the season and will soon be in the optimal planting window for the 2024-25 production season from mid-October, we thought there would be no major revisions of the production figures at this late stage.

But this has not been a typical season, and the lower producer deliveries we have been observing over the past few weeks are not only a function of on-farm storage but a poor harvest. Indeed, we struggled with a mid-summer drought in February and March, undermining crop yield potential in various regions.

On October 26, South Africa's Crop Estimates Committee lowered again the 2023-24 summer grain and oilseeds production estimate by 2% from August to 15,45 million tonnes. The major downward revision was in maize, sunflower seed, and groundnut harvest. The 2023-24 summer grain and oilseeds harvest is now down 23% from the previous season.

Listen to the podcast for more details.

Podcast production by Richard Humphries and Sam Mkokeli

My writing on agricultural economic matters is available on my blog:
https://wandilesihlobo.com/
30 Sep English South Africa Investing · Food

Other recent episodes

SA's agricultural employment improves

While the 2023-24 mid-summer drought has been the central theme of the downbeat performance of South Africa's agriculture this year, we see a welcome positive change in the jobs data. Statistics South Africa data show that primary agriculture employment improved by 4% from the previous quarter to 935k jobs in…
19 Nov 12 min

Government and industry's efforts to control animal disease spread must be lauded

The past three years have been challenging for South Africa's livestock and poultry industry because of the spread of animal diseases. Throughout this period, we have had various cases of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, African swine fever in pigs, and avian influenza in poultry. While animal disease outbreaks are not…
3 Nov 15 min

SA’s immense responsibility of stabilizing Southern Africa’s food security

South Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness sectors have a broader responsibility for food security beyond our borders. The Southern Africa region leans heavily on South Africa for food supplies. This is clear from the observation of South Africa’s agricultural exports. The country exported about US$13,2 billion of agricultural and processed food…
27 Oct 15 min
All episodes