Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - South African buyers of white maize may contract farmers in South America for supplies as the worst drought since 1992 ravages the harvest of the country’s key staple food, according to the biggest growers’ association.
Brazil and Argentina could become significant sources of white maize for South Africa starting at the end of 2016 as food producers seek as much as 2.5 million metric tonnes for the marketing year through April 2017, Wandile Sihlobo, an economist at Grain SA, said by phone on Thursday.
Shipments that large would exceed the previous record for white maize imports of 747 000 tonnes set in 1996 by more than three times, data from the South African Grain Information Service (Sagis) going as far back as 1992 show.
Brazil has already delivered 299 000 tonnes of yellow maize to South Africa since May, according to Sagis’ website, as record-high temperatures and persistent drought mean the country’s farmers produced the smallest crop since 1995.
White maize is used in South Africa to make a staple food known as pap, while the yellow variety is mainly used as animal feed. Brazil is the second-largest maize exporter.
“If the appetite for white maize persists, some food producers may ask farmers in Brazil to grow it for them,” Sihlobo said. “The Brazilians will see it as an opportunity.”
Argentina is another potential source after its government last month lifted export taxes on maize, he said.
Supply shortages
Mexico, the world’s largest white-maize producer, uses most of its harvest for local consumption. Other leading growing countries such as Malawi and Zambia are also struggling with supply shortages.
South Africa may import as much as five million tonnes of yellow and white maize in the 12 months starting in May, Jannie de Villiers, chief executive officer of Grain SA, said by phone on Wednesday.
Domestic demand for the current year is forecast at 10.5 million tonnes, the Grain and Oilseed Supply and Demand Estimates Committee said on November 27.
The need for imports may be offset as South Africans switch to other staple foods such as rice, Sihlobo said.
The price of white maize in South Africa has more than doubled since the beginning of last year, reaching a record high on January 6 and declining 4.5% since then to R4 645 a tonne by 09:28 in Johannesburg. The yellow variety has climbed 60%.
Africa's biggest maize producer will probably sow the smallest area with the grain since 2011, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee said on October 27.
Since then, many parts of South Africa have experienced record temperatures and little rain. The committee will issue an updated review of plantings on January 27.
