Food Focus

The data released this afternoon by the Crop Estimates Committee continue to paint a reasonably positive picture of South Africa's winter crop harvest, albeit with minor downward monthly revisions of the crop size. The primary issue on farmers' minds is perhaps not crop size but the deterioration in quality following heavy floods in the Western Cape in September. The Western Cape is a significant producer of winter crops, accounting for roughly two-thirds of South Africa's total winter crop output. The Crop Estimates Committee, in its fourth production estimates for the 2023/24 season, lowered the wheat harvest by 0,7% from October to 2,15 million tonnes. The marginal downward revision was mainly on the Western Cape's crop. Still, this projected overall harvest is 2% up from the last season. Broadly, the provinces behind the current robust national wheat harvest forecast are the Western Cape (53% of the overall harvest), Northern Cape, Free State and Limpopo. Admittedly, while the Northern Cape and Free State are still amongst the leading wheat producers, their expected harvest is less than the 2022/23 season. The expected large harvest in the Western Cape and Limpopo overshadows the decline in harvest in other provinces. There are also likely decent wheat harvests in other provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and North West. The current expected crop of 2,15 million tonnes is well above the 10-year average harvest of 1,80 million tonnes. If there are no significant changes in the crop forecast in the coming months, South Africa will likely need to import about 1,60 million tonnes to meet domestic consumption in the 2023/24 season (down from the forecast 1,68 million tonnes in the 2022/23 season).

South Africa benefits far more from trade with the US than with Russia. Therefore, from a purely economic standpoint the better approach in an increasingly uncertain world is to nurture relationships with countries with which the country already has strong economic ties. wandilesihlobo.com/2023/05/2…