Ginger prices drop to a tenth of COVID-19 highs in South Africa

Published 2023년 3월 23일

Tridge summary

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, increased ginger production by farmers in Mpumalanga, South Africa, has led to a decrease in prices from R300/kg to R20/kg, and subsequently to R60/kg due to reduced supply caused by heavy rainfall that prevented crop protection agents from being applied. This over-production and the impact of fungi have resulted in challenges in the ginger market, with farmers like Steyl Willemse planning to plant less in the next season. Despite these challenges, CEO of RSA Group, Jaco Oosthuizen, expects prices to stabilize as the season progresses and quality improves. The high demand for ginger during the pandemic, leading to more consumers enjoying fresh ginger, has been a positive outcome, despite the challenges of imported ginger putting downward pressure on local prices.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

By Lindi Botha Since prices for ginger shot up to R300/kg during the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers planted more ginger, swinging the supply-and-demand curve towards lower prices. Mpumalanga ginger farmer Steyl Willemse noted, however, that the market was correcting itself, and due to the lower price, less ginger would be planted in the coming season. “Prices last year were far below average, dropping to R20/kg. Since late February, prices have climbed to around R60/kg as volumes and quality were subdued because of rain.” The Lowveld area of Mpumalanga received unprecedented amounts of rain at the start of the year, creating perfect conditions for fungi to flourish. Willemse said that while there were crop protection agents that could be used to protect against fungi, the non-stop rain meant that they could not be applied and the ginger rotted in the ground. Jaco Oosthuizen, RSA Group CEO, said that challenges caused by weather had constrained supply, with low market prices paid for ...

Source: Moz-agri