May 26, 2008

South Africa's white corn ends lower on Rand strength
 

South African white corn ended slightly lower on Friday (May 23, 2008), undermined by a stronger rand and weaker corn prices on the CBOT overnight.

The benchmark white corn for July delivery ended 12 rand weaker at ZAR1,809 a tonne and September white corn fell ZAR11 to ZAR1,858/ton.

Although the market has been locked in the ZAR1,750 to ZAR1,800 range for several days, analysts said prices could rise due to concerns over the late planting of US crops and the need for local farmers to raise prices to recoup rising input costs.

Shortly before the local market closed, the rand was bid at 7.64 to the dollar from 7.72 at the same time on Thursday.