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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႅႊ
Market information in a free-market environment: NOPO market
information service
Given that the new Marketing Act provided that the Oilseeds Board had to be
phased out, NOPO’s Executive decided that an own capacity had to be developed
to interpret market trends and make it available to producers. The results of the
questionnaire to producers, which was sent out in collaboration with the University
of Pretoria, also confirmed the need for an independent information service.
An agreement was concluded with Agrimark Tendense (Dr Johan Willemse and
Ernst Janovsky) to develop a unique and accessible market information service
for oilseeds producers. The service included weekly and monthly reports on the
sunflower, soybean and groundnut markets, with analyses of international market
factors as well as the South African market conditions, crop estimates and other
factors that could affect the domestic market.
What made the market information service unique for that time was that it was
available 24 hours/day, seven days a week via an automatic fax service as well as
an internet link. Producers could therefore also obtain access to an objective and
independent market information service after hours.
When the Oilseeds Board was phased out, the NOPO market information service
was available as an information service to all role-players in the industry. However,
there was not sufficient support from the Oilseeds Working Group to maintain the
project as a project in the interest of the broad industry and the service had to be
stopped. The Oilseed Advisory Committee did approve a monthly oilseeds market
overview be published in
NOPO Nuus
and later in the
SA Graan/Grain
magazine.
NOPO also used the services of Dr Andre Jooste, from the University of Pretoria at
the time, for economic analyses on an ad hoc basis.
After the NAMPO and NOPO magazines merged in 1999, Dr Johan Willemse contin-
ued to offer a monthly oilseeds review, analysing domestic and international market
trends. The Oilseeds Trust approved the monthly article as one of the first projects
in the interests of the broad industry.
The market overview article was concluded as a project of the Oilseeds Trust in
March 2014, after 15 years. Dr Willemse was the writer from 1999 - 2012 and Dr Dirk
Strydom from 2012 - 2014. (Dr Strydom assumed an appointment with Grain SA as
Manager: Grain Economics and Marketing from 2016.)
A joint visit to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Greyling Wentzel, was in fact historical,
as it was the first time that the three grain industries spoke from one mouth. Minister
Wentzel said it was the most fulfilling day of his life. From the left: Messrs Johan Roux
(sorghum), Cerneels Claassen (NAMPO) and Japie Neethling (winter cereal).