South African potatoes market gains ground.

Highlights in today’s morning note

RSA Potatoes:

The South African potatoes market gained ground on Tuesday’s trade session with the price up by 5% from the previous day, closing at R30.08 per 10kg pocket. These gains were driven by lower stocks of 859 053 pockets (10kg) at the start of the session. However, during the session, the market saw an increase in deliveries on the back of ongoing harvest. This subsequently led to a 9% uptick in daily stocks to 933 080 tonnes.

Maize:

In terms of trade – South African maize exports fell by 47% in the week ending 04 August 2017 from the previous one and eased at 46 526 tonnes. This was mainly due to a decline in activity in the Kenyan and Taiwanese markets. About 86% of these exports were yellow maize, with 14% being white maize.

Wheat:

The new season crop is not in good shape due to persistent dryness in the Western Cape province. The weather models show that this week could remain dry and cool which will continue to strain the crop.

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Soybeans:

There is still an underlying bearish sentiment in the domestic soybean market which stems from expected large production of 1.34 million tonnes, up 81% from the previous day.

Sunflower seed:

From a global front there is rising optimism in some EU countries regarding the 2017/18 season sunflower seed crop. France Farm Ministry forecasts a 6% year-on-year uptick in production of sunflower seed this season to 1.3 million tonnes.

RSA fruit:

The fruit market ended the day mixed on Tuesday’s trade session. The apples and bananas prices were down by 3% and 1% from the previous day, closing at R7.38 per kilogramme and R5.74 per kilogramme, respectively. Meanwhile, the price of oranges market gained 18% from the previous day, closing at R3.32 per kilogramme due to strong buying interest.