South African Agricultural Commodities Weekly Wrap

• Although the recent upward revision of South African maize and soybean production forecasts underscored the view that the country’s supplies are in good shape, the weaker Rand against the US Dollar provided support to the market this week.
• The largest gains were on wheat and soybeans with spot prices respectively up by 3 percent and 2 percent from last week. Other commodity prices were up marginally from last week.
• In the fields, the harvest process is in full swing across the country and the yield reports from farmers have largely been positive.
• Looking ahead, the weather will be a key focus within the next couple of weeks as it continues to influence the harvest activity of summer crops and growing conditions of new season winter crops. The forecasts for the next eight days is favourable, showing clear skies over summer crop areas and a fair chance of rainfall in winter crop growing areas.
• Apart from grain and oilseed markets, the SAFEX beef carcass market experienced a quiet week with prices unchanged from levels seen last week. In terms of the beef supply, the South African farmers slaughtered 219 434 head of cattle in May 2018, up by 11 percent from the previous month.

Click HERE to read the full report by Wandile Sihlobo