Editor of farmers weekly, Denene Erasmus, tells OFM News that livestock gradation losses decreased by almost 66%. She says that this was based on a study done by the National Wool Growers Association and the Red Meat Producers Association that monitored the progress on more than 1 100 farms.  

The strong year-on-year price increase for potatoes during June was driven, in part, by the decrease in stock levels due to excessive rain and low summer temperatures in some of the planting regions earlier this year. According to a report published by Absa AgriBusiness, these adverse weather conditions affected potato yields in the eastern and western Free State, as well as early production in Limpopo. Towards the end of June deliveries started to increase, but volumes were expected to remain under pressure over the next four months, while a relatively cold winter could extend this trend well into the third quarter of the year. Willie Jacobs, CEO of Potatoes South Africa, told Farmer’s Weekly that according to daily fresh produce market data, deliveries to fresh produce markets decreased only 6% in May and 3% in June, compared to similar periods in 2020. At the same time, sales increased 4% during May 2021 compared with May 2020. In June 2021, sales decreased 12% compared with June 2020.

Meanwhile, sunflower oil has seen an increase of 30% as compared to this time last year. Grain SA Agricultural economist, Luan van der Walt, says this is due to the global decrease of sunflower production. He says that South Africa imports an estimated 450 000 tons of oil every year and that this reliance on imports has resulted in increased oil prices due to a global decrease in sunflower production.

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Maize harvesting yields in Central South Africa have largely completed the harvesting process with above average yields achieved in most parts.  According to Grain SA, Central South Africa has completed an estimated 50%-60% of all maize harvests, with the Free State harvesting process being partially affected due to several factors such as waterlogged areas, leaving of fertilisers, and insufficient heat units, among others. Furthermore, soybean harvesting has achieved average yields, notwithstanding the increase in the local July soybean contract.

OFM News