South African farmers will harvest 16.4-million tonnes of maize in 2017, marking the largest crop on record, the crop estimates committee (CEC) says. In its seventh production forecast for 2017, the CEC said the bumper harvest represented a 2.78% growth on the figures it provided in July and was more than double the crop that was produced in 2016. Good rains have enabled farmers to replenish stocks, following a devastating drought in the 2015-16 production season The Free State, Mpumalanga and North West were expected to produce 83% of the crop 2017, the committee said in a statement. Maize is used an input in food production and helps shape the outlook on food inflation. White maize output was estimated at 9.65-million tonnes in 2017, up 1.54% on July’s estimate, while that of the yellow variety was forecast to rise 4.61% to 6.76-million tonnes. The production estimate for sunflower was pegged at 870,095 tonnes, representing an increase of 6%, but that of soybean declined 1.79% to ...
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