May 27, 2015

Forecast of South Africa's corn output raised by 0.8% this season

The forecast for South Africa's corn output has been given a 0.8% raise for this season, according to the Crop Estimates Committee.

Furthermore, farmers in Africa's largest corn producing nation are expected to bring in 9.8 million tonnes of corn, said Marda Scheepers, a senior statistician from the committee, during an interview with Bloomberg Business. The volume surpasses the median estimate derived from a Bloomberg survey and a prediction made in April this year.

South Africa's Free State and North West are the key producing regions which contributed a combined 64% of the country's corns last year. However, these provinces did not receive adequate rainfalls during planting as the nation's worst drought since 1992 wreaked havoc on cultivations.

Eventually, South Africa had to import corn during March 2015, the first time it committed such action in 11 months. 

Still, the Free State could see "higher yields", Scheepers said.

As a result of the drought, local prices for white corn rose 33% in 2015, and yellow types at 13%.

Production of white corns may reach 4.7 million tonnes while yellow types may achieve a higher 5.1 million tonnes in output.