Maize yields hit a record high

THE 2014 domestic maize harvest rose 21 percent from a year earlier, making it the largest crop since 1981, as yields rose to a record high. The commercial maize crop was 14.25 million tons last year, Marda Scheepers, a spokeswoman for the crop estimates liaison committee (CEC), said. This matches the median estimate of 14.3 million tons by four traders in a survey on February 9 and is 0.4 percent less than the final forecast by the crop estimates committee released in September. The CEC revised its figures to include data such as stocks retained on farms, Scheepers said. “Average yields reached 5.3 tons per hectare, making them the highest on record,” she said. – Bloomberg