WANDILE SIHLOBO: Higher summer grains and oilseed prices raise risks for livestock farmers

Ordinarily, at this time of the year I would be writing about the upcoming summer crop season, which starts in October. But this year it is a hard act to follow due to several lingering, significant developments from the 2019/2020 summer crop season.

Most notable of these is the persistent upsurge of summer grains and oilseed prices. SA had its second-largest maize harvest on record at about 15.5-million tonnes (yellow maize 6.5-million tonnes and white maize 9-million tonnes) and the third-largest soya bean harvest on record (about 1.26-million tonnes) — yet commodity prices do not reflect the increased production...