South Africa will likely harvest 14.32 million tonnes of maize in 2017, 84 percent more than last year as favourable weather conditions boosted yields, the government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Monday. The forecast harvest, which the CEC said would be the largest crop since 1981, is in line with market expectations of 14.35 million tonnes, according to a Reuters' poll of traders.
The 2016 harvest was only 7.78 million tonnes, when yields were impacted by a drought triggered by an El Nino weather pattern, pushing up food prices and fuelling inflation. The crop will comprise an estimated 8.513 million tonnes of white maize, the staple mostly used for human consumption, and 5.810 million tonnes of yellow, the bulk of which goes to animal feed. It was the CEC's second forecast for this season. Increased rainfall over the maize belt during the summer growing season, brought on by a La Nina weather system, have increased the area of maize planted and the yields, sending prices sharply lower.
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