crops
Monday April 16th, 2018
Drier and warm weather conditions have kept the US wheat on the back foot. On 08 April 2018, farmers had planted only 2 percent of the intended area for spring wheat, well below the area planted at the corresponding period last year, according to data from the USDA.
Tuesday April 17th, 2018
Yesterday we indicated that sub-Saharan Africa’s 2017/18 wheat imports could reach 26 million tonnes, up by 18 percent from the previous season. What we didn’t mention is that the leading wheat importers within the sub-Saharan African region are Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Thursday April 19th, 2018
Trade aspects remain an important factor in the market as South Africa is a net importer of wheat (see Chart below). The wheat import tariff has triggered again on 10 April 2018 to R437 per tonne. The previous trigger was on 20 March 2018, which then, was calculated at R293.74 per tonne, after an uptick in international wheat prices (No2 HRW), which were supported by unfavourable weather conditions in the US wheat growing regions.
Monday April 23rd, 2018
The weather is a primary focus in the South African wheat market as the winter wheat planting period approaches. The Western Cape province, which is a leading winter wheat producing province experienced persistent dryness in the past few months, therefore soil moisture is extremely low across the fields.
The province needs to receive intense and persistent rainfall for soil moisture to improve, which will, therefore, add momentum to the planting process. However, the near-term weather forecasts present more of the same, which is cool and dry weather conditions across the province with the exception of the western areas which could receive light showers of between 16 and 25 millimetres in the week of 25 April 2018.
Tuesday April 24th, 2018
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.
Thursday April 26th, 2018
South Africa is in for a fairly good harvest in 2017/18 production season. This was confirmed by the third production forecasts released by the National Crop Estimate Committee this afternoon. All summer crop production estimates were revised up from previous month’s levels, with the exception of dry beans. In the same vein, winter crop farmers intend to increase the area plantings this upcoming season.