The Rand's Best Level in a Year Is Borrowed From Washington
The rand hit R16.17 to the dollar on 14 August, its strongest in over a year — trimming every import invoice. The…
Read more →The Rand's Five-Month High Is a Gift From the Fed — Spend It Deliberately
The rand hit 16.1350 on 12 August, its strongest since March. For importers it is the best landed-cost window of the year…
Read more →The Western Cape's Fishing Future Is Being Decided on Land
Courts, a penguin settlement and one ecolabel now shape Cape fishing more than stock assessments — and the ecolabel governs the 67%…
Read more →Starlink's Biggest Effect on South Africa Came From a Service It Cannot Sell Here
Comment on the "Starlink bill" closes on 21 August. The bill never mentions Starlink — and Kenya's subscriber numbers show what the…
Read more →SARB Holds at 7% — and Hands Importers the Rand Risk
The Reserve Bank held the repo rate at 7% on 23 July as the rand slid to R16.82 and June inflation hit…
Read more →The 30 June Shutdown and the One Road SA's Imports Can't Lose
A truck-driver shutdown set for 30 June targets the N3, N2 and Durban harbour routes — the corridor most of SA's imports…
Read more →Hormuz Reprieve: Cheaper Oil and a Firmer Rand Reset Import Costs
Brent fell below $86.50 and the rand firmed to R16.30 on ceasefire hopes, handing SA importers a double tailwind — but a…
Read more →SA's Trade Surplus Doubled to R89bn — On Gold, Not Industry
South Africa's year-to-date trade surplus more than doubled to R89.3 billion, but the gains rest on gold and PGM prices while imports…
Read more →SA Citrus Is Now World Number One — and the 30% US Tariff Bites
South Africa has overtaken Spain as the world's largest citrus exporter — just as a 30% US tariff starts applying for a…
Read more →The Symbiotic Paradox: AI, Supply Chains and South Africa
AI is sold as the fix for broken supply chains — but the buildout strains the copper, transformers and grids those chains…
Read more →The Tea Route Reimagined: Scaling South African Rooibos Exports for China
South Africa's Rooibos industry enters a total market reset as China scraps import tariffs on its exports, opening the door to 1.4…
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