Browse Data and Analysis

The enormous restraint on electricity generation and resulting power outages, locally known as load shedding, is emerging as a significant threat to South African agriculture. The cumulative hours of load shedding in the first seven months of 2022 already exceeds the annual record set in 2021.

The sharp upsurge in the cost of farming inputs for corn farmers in South Africa intensified the risk of production in a weather dependent industry, despite record-high commodity prices. As a result, Post forecasts that South Africa’s corn area will stay flat in marketing year 2022/23. However, South Africa should maintain its status as a net exporter of corn under normal weather conditions.

The South African retail food sector is well-developed and continues to expand into other African countries. In 2021, South African retail food sales totaled $40 billion, a 0.2 percent increase from 2020 as the South African economy began to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to relatively high stock levels that are suppressing local corn prices, Post estimates that South Africa’s commercial corn producers will cut area by 10 percent to 2.1 million hectares....

South Africa is the largest user of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for agricultural exports to the United States in the Southern African region.

Post estimates that the South African raw sugar production will increase by 8 percent to 2.2 Million Metric Tons (MMT) in the 2018/19 Marketing Year (MY), due to an increase in sugar cane....

On September 28, 2018, the South African Revenue Service published notifications that a safeguard duty of 35.3 percent will be imposed on EU bone-in chicken.

South Africa has the largest foodservice market in Southern Africa, and a highly competitive hospitality industry.

Two-way agricultural trade between the United States and Southern Africa has grown significantly in the past decade, reaching a record $1.5 billion in 2017.

Post estimates that the South African raw sugar production will increase by 8 percent to 2.2 Million Metric Tons (MMT) in the 2018/19 Marketing Year (MY), due to an increase in sugar cane....

Post estimates that the decreasing trend in sorghum production in South Africa will continue in the 2018/19 MY.