February 25, 2009

South Africa is expected to produce 11.217 million tonnes of corn in the 2008-09 season, the country's Crop Estimates Committee said Tuesday (February 24).

The crop is expected to consist of 6.528 million tonnes of white corn and 4.688 million tonnes of yellow, CEC member Ellen Matsei said.

The CEC revised planting area for yellow corn to 952,500 hectares and the area for white corn to 1.497 million hectares.

"The reason for the downward revision of the area was because of the rain conditions experienced in the planting areas," Matsei said.

The survey by the Department of Agriculture's CEC left the area for wheat unchanged at 748,000 hectares and increased the 2008-09 wheat output estimate by about 9,850 tonnes to 2.09 million tonnes from last month.

"The Northern Cape, one of the biggest producers, had an increase of 5,000 tonnes and the North West' production was up by 2,500 tonnes," Matsei said.