South African Agricultural Commodities Weekly Wrap: 23 February 2018

The stronger domestic currency, coupled with prospects of rainfall across the summer crop growing areas, and large carryover stocks in the 2017/18 marketing year led to widespread losses in the South African grain and oilseed markets this week.

The notable losses were on white maize, with the spot price down by 2%, from last week. All other crops recorded marginal declines of roughly 1% from the previous week.

The week ahead is data-packed, but the most anticipated release is the National Crop Estimate Committee’s first production estimate for 2017/18 summer crops. The sentiment in the market is fairly positive following good rainfall in the past few weeks. That said, major grains such as maize could decline by a third from the 2016/17 production season due to a reduction in area planted. 

The fruit and vegetable prices were volatile this week with large daily stock levels underpinning the market. After months of experiencing limited activity with almost no movements in prices, the SAFEX beef carcass market recorded marginal gains this week.

Click below to read the full report by Wandile Sihlobo

South African Agricultural Commodities Weekly Wrap 23 February 2018