Johannesburg - Corn prices in South Africa, the continent’s biggest producer of the crop, fell by the daily limit in Johannesburg as rains fell overnight, easing concern about damage done to the harvest by hot, dry weather this month.
The white variety for delivery in July plunged to R2 856 ($244) a metric ton by 9.45am, losing 2.7 percent, or the R80 limit in the biggest intraday drop for a most-active contract since January 14. The yellow type for delivery in the same month declined 3.3 percent to R2 373 rand a ton.
“It rained in the Free State; they had scattered showers last night with Viljoenskroon receiving at least 15 millimetres of rain and Bothaville getting 5 millimetres, giving the crop some breathing,” Brink van Wyk, a Pretoria, South Africa-based trader with BVG (Pty) Ltd, said by phone.
Dry, hot weather in Free State and North West, the biggest growing regions, has caused “irreversible” damage to crops in some areas, Grain SA, a farmers’ body, said on February 12. White corn, called maize locally, is used to make a staple food known as pap while the yellow type is mainly fed to animals.
There is a 30-percent chance of rain predicted for Thursday in Bothaville in the Free State, according to the South African Weather Service. The province produces 43 percent of the country’s corn.
The nation’s 2014 harvest was its biggest since 1981 after yields rose to the highest on record, the Crop Estimates Liaison Committee said last week.
The South African Futures Exchange extends the R80 movement limit for corn by 50 percent if the level is reached for two consecutive days. It was relaxed for three days in the past week.
Bloomberg