February 28, 2008

South African corn futures mixed

South African corn futures ended mixed Wednesday ( Feb 28, 2008) as traders juggled a stronger rand and Tuesday ( Feb 27, 2008)'s bullish crop production data.

The most active contract, white corn for July delivery, ended 12 rand higher at ZAR1,647 a  tonne. March white corn was down ZAR18 at ZAR1,719/tonne.

"The crop data supports prices, but the rand was too strong for the guys to profit from that," one trader said.

After the market closed on Tuesday ( Feb 27, 2008), the Department of Agriculture's Crop Estimates Committee's survey found that corn output was likely to be 10.6 million tonnes, below the average estimate.

Shortly before the market closed, the rand was bid at 7.46 to the dollar from 7.66 Tuesday ( Feb 27, 2008).

(US$1=ZAR 7.43)