#Covid19: Agricultural industry has not been hard hit compared to others

He says while some parts of South Africa's economy is still closed due to lock down restrictions, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is evidence that the country's agricultural industry has not been hard hit like other industries. He says the agricultural machinery industry performed relatively better in April this year compared to , other sectors of the economy like the automobile sector in the same period. Sihlobo says the case in point is the agricultural machinery sales monthly data, which show that South Africa’s tractor and combine harvester sales were down by just 4% year-on-year (y/y) and 13% y/y in April 2020, with 416 units and 20 units sold, respectively. The classification of the agricultural sector and its value chains to operate during the lock down period as part of essential services was a key catalyst to sustaining the sales last month. By comparison, some sectors that have remained in full lock down such as the automobile industry saw new vehicle sales plummet by 98.4% y/y in April.