SA maize exports see massive rebound.

South Africa’s maize exports saw a massive rebound in the week ending 11 August 2017. The country exported 111 287 tonnes of maize, well above the previous week’s exports of 48 529 tonnes. About 93% of these exports were yellow maize, with 7% being white maize.

Highlights in today’s morning note

Maize:

The leading buyer was Japan with a share of 90%, all yellow maize. The second largest buyer was Botswana with a share of 4%, largely white maize. Overall, South Africa’s 2017/18 total maize exports currently stand at 993 840 tonnes, which equals to 45% of the season export forecast (2.2 million tonnes).

Wheat:

The weather remains a key focus in the domestic market due as the crop is still at early stages of development. This season is about a month and a half behind schedule. The latest weather forecasts show a possibility of light showers within the next eight days across the southern parts of the Western Cape province. Although this is a welcome relief, it will not be sufficient to improve soil moisture and crop conditions.

Soybeans:

Although the South African soybean prices started the day on a positive footing with support coming from higher international soybean prices, the relatively strong domestic currency and bearish sentiment on the back of expected large supplies countered this movement towards the close of the session.

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Sunflower seed:

Yesterday the domestic sunflower seed spot price spent most of the day in the red territory but managed to recover towards the end of the session. These gains were largely linked to an increase in buying interest towards the close of the session.

RSA Potatoes:

The South African potatoes market gained ground in yesterday’s trade session with the price up by 5% from the previous day, closing at R29.85 per 10kg pocket. These gains were driven by lower stocks of 831 265 pockets (10kg) at the start of the trading session.

SAFEX Beef carcass:

The SAFEX beef carcass market has not shown any notable movements this month due to thinly traded volumes. As a result, the price remains flat at R46.00 per kilogramme.

RSA fruit:

The fruit market saw widespread gains in yesterday’s trade session with support coming from a strong buying interest. The price of apples was up by 5% from the previous day, closing at R7.52 per tonne due to strong buying interest and a subsequent 14% decline in daily stocks to 208 159 tonnes. The prices of bananas and oranges were also up by 3% and 0.31% from the previous day, closing at R6.20 per kilogramme and R3.21 per kilogramme, respectively. These gains were largely on the back of lower stocks of 226 330 tonnes of bananas and 217 497 tonnes of oranges.