August 29, 2007

South Africa corn crop estimate reduced slightly

South Africa's Crop Estimates Committee has lowered its sixth corn production forecast for the 2007/08 season by 2,000 tonnes to 6.902 million tonnes, it said Tuesday (August 28).

An I-Net Bridge poll had predicted the Department of Agriculture's committee would leave the crop forecast unchanged at 6.904 million tonnes.

The crop consists of 4.127 million tonnes of white corn and 2.775 million tonnes of yellow corn.

"It is really nothing to right home about. It's a very small adjustment because there was no new information to adjust the crop upwards or downwards," said Rodney Dredge, the committee's chairman.

According to the South African Grains Information Service's harvest report, which is a major contributor to the committee's surveys, a total of 5.334 million tonnes of corn have already been harvested.

The sunflower crop for the summer season was left unchanged at 308,580 tonnes and soy was reduced by 9,000 tonnes from last month's estimate to 205,850 tonnes.

The committee said the adjustment for soy was due to lower yields in South Africa's Free State province.

The CEC pegged wheat production for the 2008/09 season at 1.664 million tonnes, the lowest production since 2003 and 441,000 tonnes lower than last season.

The crop would be planted on 629,500 hectares, the lowest acreage since 1934 and 135,300 hectares lower than last season.

"It's very dry in the central parts of the country, the Free State and North West, and that's the reason for lower production," Dredge said.

He said the Western Cape, one of the biggest growers of the grain, had a good soil moisture, favourable for wheat production.