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She highlights the March 20 issue, covering the unfolding events around the coronavirus outbreak and how it is affecting economies and supply chains around the world.

Omri van Zyl, executive director of Agri SA, says the outbreak was creating uncertainty in the South African export market and the growing impact of the virus coincides with the announcement of a 1,4% contraction in the country's economy. According to Van Zyl, it is difficult to quantify what the total economic impact will be on South Africa's agriculture at this stage, but in the short term, it is expected that supply chain and logistical disruptions may cause harm to export-driven local sectors.  

In another news story commodity updates are provided following the National Crop Estimates Committee which released the final estimate for the winter cropping season for the previous season, that was harvested at the end of last year. This shows the wheat harvest was down by 20%, which means South Africa will have to import a large amount of wheat to supply local demand.

Erasmus says the table grape season is also highlighted and this season is a mixed bag so far for the industry with varied results in different production areas. Some areas have delivered good crops while in other regions farmers suffered losses due to rain damage.

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