August 3, 2007

  

South Africa corn futures ended lower on CBOT

 

 

South African white corn futures ended lower Thursday (August 2) following overnight losses in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), but the session was muted in the absence of fresh news.

 

December white corn, the most active, fell 15 rand to 1,839 rand a tonne and September fell 17 rand to 1,781 rand.

 

"There was not much to give the market direction. We traded in a very narrow range of 10 rand and 15 rand," a North-West-based trader said.

 

He added the losses were as a result of higher-than-expected corn deliveries to the silos on Wednesday and a slight decline on the CBOT on Thursday.

 

Just after the market closed Wednesday, the South African Grain Information Service's harvest report showed that corn harvesting fell by 44,000 tonnes to 202,000 tonnes last week, bringing total corn production so far this season to 5.06 million tonnes.

 

"It was not a surprise to see corn deliveries coming in lower than last week, but it was interesting to see that above 200,000 tonnes could still be delivered," the trader said.

 

Dow Jones Newswires reported that CBOT corn futures ended lower on Wednesday after updated weather forecasts called for significant rain chances in the US midwest during the weekend and into next week.

 

September corn ended down 6 ¾ cents at US$3.19 per bushel, December lost 6 ¼ cents settling at US$3.36, and March closed down 6 ¼ cents at US$3.51 ¼.

 

Shortly before the local grain market closed on Thursday the rand was bid at 7.10 per dollar from 7.18 on Wednesday.