AGRICULTURE
US weather may have final say despite bumper maize harvest in SA
As a dominant producer, the size of the US’s harvest affects world prices
The next few weeks will be critical in determining what will happen to maize prices around the world as farmers in the US go into their planting season. Cold and wet weather in parts of the US boosted soil moisture but delayed pre-planting fieldwork. The US agriculture department’s latest progress report said only 34% of maize planting had taken place across 18 maize-producing states by Sunday, compared with the 61% in 2016. Because the US is a dominant producer, the size of its harvest affects world prices. US farmers harvested a bumper crop in 2015 and prices fell. In SA, maize prices have fallen from record highs in expectation of a bumper crop. Favourable weather allowed farmers to raise production after a severe drought caused by the 2015 El Niño weather pattern. SA’s crop estimates committee said the commercial crop would be 84% bigger than the 2016 crop. The harvest, at 14.5-million tonnes, would be the second-largest since 1981. During the height of the drought, the JSE’s ag...
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