President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the coronavirus a national disaster on Sunday, 15 March 2020, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 started to climb locally.
Besides its health aspect, the global spread of the virus has had a devastating effect on multiple industries, economies and also the global agricultural sector.
The World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in February, resulted in governments increasing their containment measures. As a result, the global market lost in excess of $6 trillion in just six days during late February, mirroring economic conditions last seen in the 2008 global recession.
SA’s agricultural outlook
In a press release on the issue, Omri van Zyl of Agri SA stated that South Africa’s agricultural sector exports approximately 25 commodities with a value of $10 billion on an annual basis. In the short term, he said, supply chain and logistical disruptions would harm export-driven agricultural sectors.
Agbiz in turn reported that the lowered demand from Asian countries could also damage the South African export market. Asian countries account for 25% of South African agricultural exports and import products such as wool, fruit, grains, red meat, vegetables and beverages.
China takes up 8% of global agricultural imports and is the second biggest importer in the world. Japan is responsible for 4% of global agricultural imports and is the sixth biggest importer in the world. South Korea and Hong Kong collectively account for 4% of global agriculture imports.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2020-Ausgabe von FarmBiz.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2020-Ausgabe von FarmBiz.
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