July 14, 2008

South African corn prices rise as rand weakens against dollar

Corn in South Africa, the biggest producer of the grain on the continent, rose after the rand fell against the dollar.

The rise of the dollar meant more expensive corn imports.

The rand traded at 7.763 a dollar at 12:11 p.m. in Johannesburg, compared with 7.686 at the close of grain trading at noon yesterday.

Yellow corn for December delivery was up 13 rand, or 0.6 percent, to 2,256 rand. Contracts for the grain, used mainly for animal feed in South Africa, declined 4.7 percent in the week.