South African maize prices fell on Tuesday on the promise of good rains, a trend set to dominate the market in coming months as the country's grain heartland heads into the summer wet season, traders said.
Benchmark December white maize futures fell 11 rand to 845 rand per tonne while December yellow maize closed seven lower at 770 rand.
"We're in a weather market at the moment. I think there'll be very few participants who want to be long this coming weekend when it will be quite wet in the Johannesburg area," said one trader, adding that regional demand for South African maize had already been priced into the market.
The UN estimates that nearly 10 million people in southern Africa face food shortages as the region suffers from one of the worst droughts in recent years.
This has resulted in a steady flow of exports of the staple white maize from South Africa.
Figures released after the market closed at 1000 GMT showed white maize exports falling sharply in the week to October 28.
Once again all the grain went to South Africa's drought-hit neighbours.
White maize exports stood at 21,416 tonnes, down from 35,802 the previous week. Yellow maize exports totalled 1,996 tonnes, compared with 1,890 at the last tally.