SA maize crop has generally matured

• South Africa’s maize crop has generally matured, which means cool and dry conditions are an ideal weather for the crop at this stage of development. The past weekend presented the precise favourable environment, which is cool and drier conditions across the maize-belt.
• The forecast for the next two weeks suggests that conditions could remain unchanged which bodes well for the maize crop, ahead of the harvest period. This is, however, with the expectation of the southern parts of the Free State and the Eastern Cape provinces which could receive light showers in the week of 09 May 2018. This could, nonetheless, have minimal impact on the crop as rainfall is expected to be light and scattered, varying between 13 and 25 millimetres. 
• This week is data-packed, but the most anticipated release is the National Crop Estimate Committee’s (CEC) third production estimate for 2017/18 summer crops. Bloomberg analyst’s forecasts put South Africa’s maize harvest at 12.49 million tonnes, which is slightly higher than last month’s estimate of 12.42 million tonnes. About 51% of this is white maize, with the remainder being yellow maize. The favourable weather condition across the country support the optimism.
• We will get an indication tomorrow. Suffice to say, a harvest above 12 million tonnes will be well above South Africa’s annual maize consumption of roughly 10.50 million tonnes, which then means that the country would remain a net exporter of maize in the 2018/19 marketing year which starts on 01 May 2018. The supplies received a boost from a large carryover stock of 4.1 million tonnes in the current marketing year

Read the full report by Wandile Sihlobo in the attachment below:

Agbiz Morning Market Viewpoint on Agri-Commodities 24 April 2018