Brent crude dropped by 3.37% on Tuesday to trade at $101.55 after it had climbed 4.1% on Monday. The oil prices dropped as traders looked forward to approaching rate hikes from central banks. Markets are expecting more aggressive rate hikes from central banks seeing that inflation in the US and Europe remains high. This could lead to a drop in oil prices.

Agri SA welcomes the announcement of the temporary reduction of the general fuel levy. This is a necessary intervention to buttress the agricultural sector and consumers against the impact of rising fuel prices on the cost of food.

The price of petrol is set to come down by nine cents a litre as of Wednesday, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced.

The price of 95 (ULP and LRP) and 93 (ULP and LRP) will come down by 9 cents a litre.

Meanwhile, diesel (0.05% Sulphur) will decrease by 31 cents a litre, while the price of diesel (0.005% Sulphur) will decrease by 30 cents a litre.

The area planted estimate and third production forecast for summer cropsfor 2021 is hereby released.

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has released the 2020 trade performance review, that sheds light on South Africa’s trade performance of agricultural products, relative to the prior year.

During October 2020, the nominal cost of the NAMC’s 28-item urban food basket amounted to R955.71 compared to the R951.48 reported during September 2020. This resulted in a monthly increase of 0.4%. When compared to October 2019, an annual (y-o-y) increase of 10.3% is observed.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers released by Stats SA today, indicates a decline of 51% in the second quarter of 2020. This fourth consecutive quarter decline since the second quarter of 2019, catapulted South Africa’s economy into a recession.