March 30, 2004

 

 

South African Corn Prices Fall With Reports Of Bumper Harvest

 

The price of corn in South Africa has fallen considerably as a result of forecasts of a bumper harvest this season.

 

Earlier this year, drought and forecasts of poor corn production had led the government to declare seven of the country's nine provinces disaster areas.

 

The South African Chamber of Milling's executive director, Jannie de Villiers, said: "We have had very good rainfalls since February - the situation has much improved."

 

Both yellow and white corn dropped from between R1,300 (US $204) and R1,400 ($219.7) per metric ton (MT) earlier in the year, to a current price range of R1,040 ($163.2) to R1,122 ($176.04) MT.

 

Andrew Fletcher of Grain SA, an organization of producers with a membership of more than 8,000 commercial growers, said the 2004-05 supply and demand figures, released for the commodity on Monday, indicated that the country would only have to import some yellow corn.

 

According to these figures, South Africa is set to have a supply of more than nine million MT of corn at its disposal, against a total demand of a little more than eight million MT.

 

"We have more than enough supply as far as white corn is concerned," Fletcher said.

 

A yield of 4.55 million MT of white corn and 2.89 million MT of yellow corn is expected, in contrast to forecasts earlier this year of around four million MT of white corn and 2.67 million MT of yellow corn.

 

The country will have to import 350,000 MT of yellow corn. According to figures released this week, South Africa has reserves of yellow corn (about 436,000 MT) and white corn (2.2 million MT) carried over from last year, boosting its total supply of corn to more than 10 million MT.

 

Meanwhile, a previously released estimate that at least four million South Africans were in need of immediate assistance has been described as "grossly exaggerated" by the Disaster Relief Fund Board, which is monitoring the conditions in the drought-affected areas.

 

Joe Molifi, secretary of the board, said that the Department of Social Development had received applications for financial assistance from only 143,000 households across the country.

 

As and when their applications are processed, they will receive a monthly payment of R300 ($50) for a three-month period.

 

Kgati Sathekge at the Department of Social Development said the government had been providing food parcels to 248,000 poverty stricken households since 2002.

 

Many of these families - a total of 1.5 million people - are in the drought-affected areas.

 

The Department of Agriculture has, in the meantime, started providing farmers with subsidized fodder across the country. An official at the department, Ikalaseng Kgakatsi, said that the government had incurred a cost of about R147 million ($22.6 million) in subsidizing the fodder.