This is a busy period in South African farming. The summer crop farmers are tilling the land for the new season, table grape farmers are harvesting, and the winter crop farmers are harvesting.

South Africa’s 2025-26 winter wheat season began at the start of October. But we are seeing that farmers have begun delivering the new season crop, which was planted from the start of May.

In the first five weeks of this year, farmers have delivered about 425,190 tonnes of wheat to commercial silos.

These are still early days, and the harvest is expected to gain momentum in the coming months. South Africa’s 2025-26 winter wheat harvest is forecast at 2.03 million tonnes, a 5% increase from the previous year.

The annual improvement is boosted by the expected better harvest in the Northern Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape, and Limpopo.

The Western Cape, which accounts for over half of South Africa’s winter wheat production, is expected to experience a mild decline in the harvest this year compared to the 2024-25 season due to unfavourable weather conditions in some parts of the province.

A potential wheat harvest of 2.03 million tonnes implies that South Africa may need to import approximately 1.74 million tonnes in the 2025-26 season to meet our annual needs. These imports are expected to be down 5% from the 2024-25 season. The import activity is unlikely to pose a significant challenge, given the ample global wheat supplies available.

Listen more to the linked audio. Wandile Sihlobo website