March 15, 2007

South Africa's 2006/07 corn harvest rises to 6.142 million tonnes 

South Africa's corn yields for the 2006/07 season rose by 19,000 tonnes last week to 6.142 million tonnes, official data showed Wednesday (Mar 14).

The South African Grain Information Service's (SAGIS) weekly harvest report showed that of a total 4,076 million tonnes of white corn harvested, 65.5 percent was white corn grade one while totally spoiled white corn was at 0.2 percent. White corn grade two and three were at 26.8 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

South African farmers harvest corn each year from about April to early August, with the key harvest months being June and July.

The Crop Estimates Committee pegged its production forecast for the 2006/07 season at 6.280 millions tonnes.

The country's wheat yields rose for the 2006/07 season rose by 3,271 tonnes last week to 2.017 million tonnes, SAGIS' weekly harvest report showed.

Last month, South Africa's Crop Estimates Committee lowered its forecast of the winter crop production yields by 1.8 percent to 2.122 million tonnes, but left the area unchanged at 784,800 hectares.