South Africa begins to import maize after drought ravages crops
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South Africa begins to import maize after drought ravages crops
March 27, 2007
By Ronnie Morris
Cape Town - South Africa, generally a net exporter of maize, had
started to import the staple grain as the worst drought in 15 years
had devastated crops, John Purchase, the general manager of Grain SA,
said yesterday.
He said the shortage of maize would drive up prices of all food that
contains maize as well as the cost of feeding poultry and cattle.
The knock-on effects were difficult to quantify and he was not able to
say how much maize South Africa would have to import. Crop estimates
had not been released, nor had the extent of the drought been
quantified.
Reuters reported yesterday that South Africa's maize carry-over stocks
had dipped to 2.846 million tons at the end of February from 3.427
million in January.
Quoting traders, the news service said the fall in stocks was unlikely
to stir the white maize market since the harvest was about three
months away.
The crimping yellow maize stocks could, however, put pressure on the
already tight supplies and boost prices.
The July white maize contract fell 1 percent to R1 955 a ton on the SA
Futures Exchange. Yellow maize for July delivery was unchanged at R1
821 a ton. Yellow maize is used mainly as animal feed in South Africa.
Purchase said South Africa was normally a net exporter of maize to
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland and sometimes supplied to Zimbabwe,
Kenya and other countries.
"Generally, we can't produce profitably if we have to export in large
volumes further afield than in southern Africa," he said. "Because of
the severe drought, literally a one-in-15-year type drought, we will
probably be importing maize this year. We have already started
importing a substantial amount of yellow maize, primarily from
Argentina.''
South Africa had imported about 1 million tons of wheat a year over
the past three years. This year imports would be about 800 000 tons
because South Africa was not producing enough for its own needs, he
said.
This was worsened by lack of tariff protection, exposing South Africa
to the international market. Wheat producers in Europe and North
America were subsidised.
South Africa imported primarily from Argentina, Germany and from time
to time from the US depending on the quality needed.
Grain SA has warned that farmers in some areas faced total crop
failure because of the heat wave and a lack of rain.
Chairman Neels Ferreira said producers in the summer crop areas
planted relatively late this season, expecting good rains early this
year. Over the past few weeks, the crops in many areas had literally
been scorched and even if good rains should fall soon, it was too late
to benefit many farmers.
The maize yield was expected to be almost 30 percent lower than the
previous season's average yield of more than 4 tons a hectare. Other
crops such as sorghum, sunflower and soya beans are also likely to
show a significant drop in yields.