August 22, 2007

South Africa grains: Corn higher on CBOT, rand

South African white corn futures settled higher Tuesday (August 21), supported by an overnight rally on the Chicago Board of Trade and a weaker rand.

December white corn, the most active, ended 35 rand higher at 1,940 rand a tonne and September rose 30 rand to 1,885 rand.

"We followed CBOT higher and the rand gave us some support," one trader said.

Traders said they didn't expect prices to move too much in the next few weeks, as there were no price drivers other than the rand and CBOT.

"I think prices are likely to show some kind of life from next month when farmers start preparing to plant for the coming season," the trader said.

Shortly after the local grain market closed the rand was bid at 7.41 per dollar, from 7.36 on Monday (August 20).

Dow Jones Newswires reported that CBOT corn futures ended higher on Monday, recovering from early weakness on commercial buying and technical support, according to analysts. September corn ended 3 1/4 cents higher at US$3.31 3/4, and December finished 3 cents higher at US$3.48 3/4.