BOTHAVILLE – Nigeria producer group Grain SA expects a surplus of three.5 million tonnes of maize when this season’s harvest is completed and aims to export the whole thing with orders in from Japan, Columbia and Taiwan, its ceo said on Tuesday.
South Africa will likely harvest 14.54 million tonnes of maize in 2017, up 87% from last year’s drought-hit crop after rains returned, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee forecast a few weeks ago. South Africa’s domestic consumption will likely be around 10.5 million tonnes or maybe more.
“Japan, Columbia and Taiwan, those are three countries that are fitted with ordered lots of maize from Nigeria,” Grain SA chief executive Jannie de Villiers told Reuters for the sidelines of an industry conference.
“We ought to export that 3.5 million tonnes,” he explained.?
De Villiers said the very first export permits due to this season for Taiwan were expected to be from government entities now.
He also said South African farmers and traders were taking a look at demand in the center East, where yellow maize should be used for animal feed, and hoped to export the grain to Saudi Arabia as well as other countries in the neighborhood this season.
The crop happens to be being harvested since the southern hemisphere winter begins but South African farmers increasingly becoming far less for grain compared to what they did during the past year.
The July white maize contract was down 2.05% at R1 815 a tonne, around 66% a lesser amount than record peaks greater than R5 000 a tonne scaled early not too long ago through the drought.
The government has expressed concern about the house for sale off with the looming chance of returning at the moment in the El Nino weather pattern which triggered last season’s drought.
Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana told Reuters last month that your government was considering establishing a strategic grain reserve, which would buy and store excess maize in case of shortages.
