Why April is a critical month for South Africa's winter and summer crops

Published 2023년 4월 17일

Tridge summary

April is expected to mark the start of land preparation for the 2023/24 winter wheat, canola, barley, and oats production in South Africa's winter crop-growing regions, with the Crop Estimates Committee set to release the planting data on April 26. Farmers are hoping for areas exceeding the five-year average, driven by attractive wheat prices and strong domestic demand, despite high input prices. Positive weather conditions and declining input prices further support the agricultural sector. However, the looming energy crisis poses a threat to irrigation, which could affect one-fifth of South Africa's winter wheat. Meanwhile, South Africa is experiencing a promising summer crop season, with a 5% increase in production estimates for 2022/23 summer grains and oilseeds, leading to hopes for consumer food price inflation moderation in the latter half of the year.

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

Original content

April is an important month in South Africa's agricultural sector, especially for field crops. Later this month, farmers in the Western and Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and other winter crop growing regions will start preparing the land for 2023/24 winter wheat, canola, barley and oats production. For now, it is unclear how much area will be planted for each crop. The Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) will release the farmers' intentions to plant data, and key figures for the potential area plantings, on 26 April. We expect most crops' plantings to exceed the five-year average area. For example, the wheat five-year average area planted is 528 690 hectares, which is 7% lower than the area plantings for the 2022/23 production season. Therefore, we doubt that the 2023/24 season will see an area below the five-year average. Wheat prices, although having softened somewhat in recent months, remain relatively attractive for farmers. Moreover, the demand for the crop domestically ...

Source: Agbiz