South Africa's benchmark maize futures ended unchanged on Friday, but showed continued bullish momentum after coming back from lows touched earlier in line with US prices.
The December white maize contract closed at 1,440 rand a tonne after slipping as low as 1,421 rand, suggesting that a rally that was sparked late last year on crop concerns was still largely in tact.
"We were very bullish about a week ago, then sentiment kind of tapered down. We had profit taking, squaring up of positions," said one dealer.
"Today was the first actual bullish day as the price moved back from lows."
The trader said the next key levels for the contract would be around 1,410 and 1,380 rand, with the US market and the rand/dollar exchange rate likely to be the main drivers in the next week.
Maize prices have shot to 29-month peaks of close to 1,500 as worries over this year's harvest mounted. Officials have predicted a crop of around 6 million tonnes - down from 11.45 million tonnes and some two million below the national demand.
Uncertainty about crop damage caused by excessive rains has further fuelled the rally, especially at this early stage of the harvesting period when so little is known about what the crop will be.
The South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX) on Wednesday reintroduced the grade 2 white maize contract for the first time since 2003, the latest sign that the quality of the crop has suffered.
The Crop Estimates Committee releases its next forecast on Thursday and is expected to predict a crop of 5.96 million tonnes, according to an average of seven traders polled by Reuters.
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