By Maile Matsimela

The South African agricultural markets showed mixed performance across various commodities for the week ending 16 May 2025.

This dynamic snapshot offering essential data for stakeholders, facilitating informed decision-making throughout the agricultural value chain, was provided by Paul Makube, a Senior Agricultural Economist at FNB Commercial with extensive experience in agricultural market analysis and forecasting.

His weekly agrimetrics reports provide valuable insights for farmers, agribusinesses, and policymakers across South Africa.

This review highlights key trends in livestock, grains, fruits, vegetables, and other soft commodities, offering farmers and stakeholders valuable insights for informed decision-making.

The sector shows resilience amid typical seasonal patterns. Livestock markets continue to perform well year-on-year, with beef and sheep prices showing particularly strong growth. Grain and oilseed markets are adjusting to global supply and demand dynamics, with futures prices indicating market expectations for the coming seasons. Fresh produce markets demonstrate expected volatility based on seasonal supply fluctuations.

Farmers should monitor import parity trends for livestock sectors, especially with the current differentials between local and import prices, international grain price movements for potential market direction, seasonal production cycles in the fresh produce sector and weather forecasts for the upcoming winter season.

Livestock market performance

Beef sector

Class A beef prices remained stable at R68.47/kg
Class C beef traded at R52.14/kg
Contract A (including 5th Quarter) priced at R68.18/kg
Import parity prices stood at R52.72/kg
Weaner calves (live weight) maintained at R36.65/kg
Year-on-year comparison shows significant price increases, indicating strong market demand

Sheep and mutton

Class A lamb prices reached R103.15/kg
Mutton traded at R65.71/kg
Contract A (including 5th Quarter) priced at R102.69/kg
Import parity stood at R97.01/kg
Feeder lambs (live weight) reached R45.89/kg
Strong year-on-year growth in prices demonstrates sustained consumer demand

Pork industry

Porker prices reported at R32.75/kg
Baconer prices at R32.27/kg
Import parity prices at R42.45/kg
Smaller yearly increases compared to beef and sheep sectors

Poultry sector

Fresh whole bird prices at R38.35/kg
Medium frozen whole birds sold at R35.53/kg
Individually quick frozen (IQF) products priced at R34.66/kg
US leg quarter import parity prices at R32.30/kg

Grain and oilseed

Maize

White maize (WMAZ) futures (JSE – 19 May 2025):

Jul-2025: R4 290/ton
Sep-2025: R4 370/ton
Dec-2025: R4 472/ton
Mar-2026: R4 425/ton
Yellow maize (YMAZ) futures (JSE – 19 May 2025):

Jul-2025: R4 008/ton
Sep-2025: R4 101/ton
Dec-2025: R4 185/ton
Mar-2026: R4 146/ton

Oilseeds

Sunflower seed (SUNS) futures (JSE – 19 May 2025):

Jul-2025: R8 982/ton
Sep-2025: R9 187/ton
Dec-2025: R9 367/ton
Soybeans (SOY) futures (JSE – 19 May 2025):

Jul-2025: R7 212/ton
Sep-2025: R7 381/ton
Dec-2025: R7 591/ton
Mar-2026: R7 575/ton

Fresh produce markets

Fruit highlights
(Average prices, week ending 16 May 2025)

Apples: R10.11/kg
Avocados: R21.34/kg – Sharp yearly price increases with stable volumes
Bananas: R9.54/kg
Grapes: R38.39/kg – Price gains despite volume declines
Mangoes: R33.54/kg – Significant price growth compared to previous year
Pears: R42.61/kg

Vegetable trends
(Average prices, week ending 16 May 2025)

Potatoes: R5.66/kg – Remained the cornerstone of vegetable markets
Tomatoes: R12.31/kg – Showed typical seasonal price volatility
Onions: R9.99/kg – Maintained consistent supply
Cabbage: R2.68/kg
Butternut: R4.36/kg – Volume shifts influenced weekly pricing
Carrots: R9.63/kg
Lettuce: R28.99/kg – Higher value vegetable with premium pricing

Soft commodities and fibres
Global futures (19 May 2025)

Sugar (ICE, No. 11 – Jul 2025): 17.45 US c/lb – Slight weekly and monthly declines
Cotton (ICE, No. 2 – Jul 2025): 65.64 US c/lb – Modest price adjustments

Fibre markets
(Week ending 16 May 2025)