Maize output in South Africa, the continent's biggest producer of the grain, fell to 12.05 million tonnes in 2008/09 due to fewer plantings, the country's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Thursday. The CEC said this year's crop comprised 6.775 million tonnes of white maize and 5.275 million tonnes of yellow and was 5.1 percent lower than the 12.70 million tonnes produced in the 2007/08 season.
The crop was, however, 2.6 percent higher than the committee's 11.74 million tonne forecast and more than traders' estimates of 11.84 million tonnes, according to a Reuters poll. "The main reason for the drop is the lower plantings that we had this year compared with the season before," a committee member told Reuters.
He declined to be named. South African farmers planted 2.43 million hectares of maize this year compared with 2.89 million hectares the previous season, partly due to higher costs of inputs such as seed maize and fertiliser. But the committee said the country had achieved a maize crop yield of 4.96 tonne per hectare. Farmers are expected to plant more maize in the coming 2009/10 season. The CEC said last month farmers intended to plant 2.57 million hectares of the grain the next season.
The CEC said its survey had taken into account actual deliveries by farmers to silos of 11.396 million tonnes and maize used and retained on farms which was not submitted to official silos amounting to 424,556 tonnes. Projected deliveries of 229,099 tonnes were also factored into the final crop figure, it said. Another trader said the output figures were likely to have a muted impact on trade in maize futures on the South African futures exchange.
The harvest is likely to keep South African maize exports relatively high in the next marketing season starting in May. The country has exported 1.02 million tonnes of maize since May this year, with traders suggesting exports could begin to slow as some customers, particularly in southern Africa, start harvesting their own crops.