Spotlight on Maize Market

Arithmus — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 07:59:14 +0000

The recently released United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s monthly report could be the key driver of the global maize market today. The agency placed its 2018/19 global maize production estimate at 1.07 billion tonnes, up by 3 percent from the previous season. This is in line with the International Grains Council estimate for the corresponding period.
The US, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine and China are amongst the key countries underpinning the expected large global maize harvest. This has overshadowed the possible decline in production in other major maize producing countries such as the EU, India and South Africa.
Zooming into South Africa, the USDA left its estimate for the country’s 2018/19 commercial and non-commercial maize production unchanged from September 2018, at 13.0 million tonnes. This is about 3 percent lower than the previous season’s harvest, but well above the long-term average production. Nonetheless, this is well above the International Grains Council’s estimate of 12.3 million tonnes for the corresponding period due to a variation in yield expectations.
Be that as it may, the planting activity has not yet commenced in many provinces, the aforementioned estimates are partly based on historical data. Key to look out for going forward is the ‘intentions of farmers’ to plant figure which will be released on 25 October by the Crop estimate Committee, as well as the weather outlook given the prospects of an El Niño later in the summer season
Aside from the aforementioned weather developments, the dam levels have improved significantly in the Western Cape province, thanks to the recent rainfall (see Figure 1 below).

Click HERE for the full report.

Sourced: Agbiz Morning Market Viewpoint on Agri-Commodities

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SA farmers increased summer crop area planting

Arithmus — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 06:22:18 +0000

The recently released first estimate for South Africa’s 2018/19 summer grains and oilseeds area plantings and production proved just how difficult it is to make predictions in a drier season. Fortunately, the numbers leaned more to the positive than the reduction that market analysts, ourselves included, previously feared. South African farmers planted 3.7 million hectares of all summer grains and oilseeds, up by 3% from the previous estimate, but still down by 3% from the 2017/18 season. From a yield perspective, the numbers are somewhat disappointing but not gloomier. For example, South Africa’s maize production is estimated at 10.5 million tonnes, slightly below the lower end of market expectations of 10.7 million tonnes. Given that South Africa consumes roughly 10.8 million tonnes a year, if the aforementioned harvest materialises, the country would have sufficient supplies in 2019/20 marketing year, accounting for an opening stock of 3.5 million tonnes which will add into the supplies.

To dive into more details, white maize area plantings were revised up to 1.3 million hectares from last month, while yellow maize area plantings were slashed from the previous estimate to 1.0 million hectares. This then boosted the production expectations to 5.2 million tonnes of white maize and 5.3 million tonnes of yellow maize. Although this will put South Africa in better footing than we previously feared, it is 16% lower than the 2017/18 harvest due to expectations of poor yields in some areas, following erratic rainfall at the start of the season.

Moreover, the 2018/19 soybean plantings were revised down from last month by 2% to 730 500 hectares. This is 8% lower than the 2017/18 production season. From a yield perspective, production could amount to 1.3 million tonnes, which is slightly below our expectations of 1.4 million tonnes, and 17% lower than the 2017/18 season. Sunflowers seed area plantings were revised up from last month, and that captures the increased activity after late rainfall in parts of the North West. Be that as it may, production is still set to be 16% less than the 2017/18 production season (Figure 1). Other small grains harvest, sorghum and dry beans could be up from last season.

Going forward, the weather will be an important determinate of whether South Africa receives a better harvest or not. At the moment, the outlook is favourable, with the South African Weather Service indicating a possibility of above-normal rainfall between February and April 2019 over most summer grains and oilseeds growing areas.

Click HERE to view the full report.

Sourced: Agbiz, Agribusiness Research

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South African maize production – Agri Limpopo

Spotlight on Maize Market

SA farmers increased summer crop area planting