July 24, 2008

South Africa's corn output forecast to rise

South Africa is likely to lift its 2007-08 corn production forecast to 11.75 million tonnes from the 11.6 million tonnes predicted last month, according to a survey of five traders by I-Net Bridge.

The forecasts ranged from 11.6 million tonnes to 11.9 million tonnes.

The area was largely expected to remain unchanged from the previous estimate of 2.80 million hectares, but the average yield per hectare was expected to have picked up from last month's 4.14 tonne/hectare.

Favourable weather conditions since September last year are expected to boost yields significantly, with some traders saying farmers in certain areas were seeing as much as 10 tonnes a hectare.

The Department of Agriculture's Crop Estimates Committee is scheduled to release its sixth summer production forecast Thursday (July 24).