Johannesburg - Corn futures traded in South Africa, the continent’s biggest producer of the grain, fell after prices in the US reached the lowest level since 2010 amid prospects for a record-high crop.
Yellow corn for delivery in September, the most active contract, dropped 1.1 percent to 2,105 rand ($211) a metric ton, the contract’s lowest price since April 24, by the close on the South African Futures Exchange in Johannesburg.
The white variety for delivery in December slid 1.4 percent to 2,303 rand a ton.
Corn touched $4.4575 a bushel, the lowest since Sept. 3, 2010, on the Chicago Board of Trade yesterday.
Farmers in the US, the world’s largest grower, will collect a record 13.763 billion bushels, 28 percent more than last year’s drought- damaged output, the Department of Agriculture said August 12.
“With the US price that was down last night, we see our prices low today,” Brink van Wyk, a trader from BVG (Pty) Ltd., said by phone from Perth, Australia.
Yellow corn is mainly used as animal feed in South Africa, while a meal made from the white variety is one of the nation’s staple foods.
Wheat for delivery in December was little changed at 3,334 rand a ton, rebounding from a decline of as much as 0.6 percent. - Bloomberg News