Johannesburg - South African corn futures declined the most in a week, tracking prices that fell in the US, the world’s largest producer of the grain, due to good weather.
White corn for delivery in December, the most active contract, fell 0.7 percent to 2,361 rand ($236) a metric ton, the most since July 26.
The yellow variety for September, declined 0.2 percent to 2,156 rand a ton. Corn for delivery in December fell 0.3 percent to $4.6575 a bushel in Chicago after yesterday touching $4.64, the lowest level for a most-active contract since October 2010.
Rainfall in the next 10 days will be above normal in parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, Commodity Weather Group said in a report today.
Cool weather also will prevent heat stress on plants, forecaster DTN said.
The US Department of Agriculture said July 11 that farmers will boost output by 29 percent this year to a record 13.95 billion bushels.
“The downward movement in America caused by reports on good weather, made our prices come down,” Thys Grobbelaar, an analyst at Klerksdorp, South Africa-based Senwes Ltd., said by phone.
South Africa is the continent’s largest producer of corn.
Yellow corn is used mainly as animal feed in the country, while a meal made from the white variety is one of South Africa’s staple foods.
Wheat for delivery in December rose 1.5 percent to 3,379 rand a ton, the fifth consecutive advance. - Bloomberg News
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