SA's 2015 maize output almost unchanged

Johannesburg - South Africa will harvest 9.666 million tonnes of maize in 2015, almost unchanged from a previous forecast as white maize plantings decreased while yields on yellow crop increased, a government agency said on Wednesday.

The maize crop will consist of an estimated 4.639 million tonnes of white maize and 5.026 million tonnes of yellow, the government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said in its second forecast for the 2015 crop.

The estimate was barely changed from the CEC's first forecast of 9.665 million tonnes in February.

"The change is very minimal. Its a combination of factors like a decrease in area planted for white maize as well as an increase in expected yields in yellow maize in Kwazulu Natal Provinces and Mpumalanga provinces," the CEC's Marda Scheepers said.

The harvest forecast missed market expectation for 10 million tonnes, according to a Reuters poll of market traders.

The most traded July white maize contract shed 2.8% on Wednesday to R2 714 a tonne ahead of the CEC announcement.