Positive correlation between South Africa's thriving agricultural sector, and the rise in tractor and agricultural machinery sales, which saw a significant increase in 2025 due to a successful harvest season bolstered by favourable weather conditions. With tractor sales up by 19% and combine harvester sales rising by 3%, the outlook for 2026 remains optimistic, as farmers anticipate another year of abundant harvests driven by impending La Niña rains.

When the agricultural sector is thriving, its interlinked industries also benefit. We are seeing such benefits from the 2025 agricultural machinery sales, which were reasonably strong. For example, South Africa's 2025 tractor sales amounted to 7,668 units, up 19% from 2024. The combine harvester sales amounted to 207 units in 2025, up by 3% from the previous year. These solid sales may continue in 2026, as the agricultural conditions, particularly in field crops and horticulture, remain favourable.

But let's look back at 2025. Among other things, the solid agricultural machinery sales primarily reflect the financial gains from the better 2024-25 agricultural season, particularly in field crops, horticulture and wine grape harvests, which were mainly supported by favourable weather conditions.

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For example, the Crop Estimates Committee forecasts the 2024-25 summer grains and oilseeds harvest at 20.08 million tonnes, up 30% from the previous season. Moreover, South African sugar production for the 2024-25 season is forecast to recover by 7% year on year to 2.09 million tonnes. South Africa's winter wheat also performed reasonably well, with an estimated harvest of 1.99 million tonnes, up 3% from the previous production season.

Regarding the horticultural subsector, we saw robust harvests across the board. For...