Agricultural industries across the world have faced headwinds over the last few years, diminishing any gains since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Absa senior agricultural economist Marlene Louw, growth and confidence are deteriorating, especially in South Africa where a number of factors are having a negative effect on sentiments. These include inefficiencies in ports, ongoing load-shedding, increasing political uncertainty, high interest rates and consequently loan repayment problems, and climate-related issues. “Interest rates are biting and ‘higher for longer’ seems to be
