Agri Hour
Agbiz market viewpoint: No downward revision of South Africa’s maize harvest is comforting─── CHRISTAL-LIZE MULLER 05:40 Tue, 02 Jul 2019
As per usual on a Tuesday, Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, provides a weekly insert on South African agricultural markets only on Before Dawn.
Sihlobo says South Africa's Crop Estimates Committee left its 2018/19 maize harvest estimate roughly unchanged from last month, at 10.9 million tonnes. About 5.5 million tonnes is white maize, with 5.4 million tonnes being yellow maize. It is comforting to see that there were no downward revisions, although the expected harvest is 13% lower than last season's harvest due to a slight reduction in the area planted. Poor yields on the back of dryness during the season also needs to be taken into consideration.
He is of the opinion that winter crops are in a good condition in the Western Cape, but there is some concern about long-term weather prospects as the South African Weather Service forecasts dryness between July and September 2019 in the province.)
Here is Sihlobo…
That was Wandile Sihlobo, agricultural economist at the South African Business Chamber, Agbiz.
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