Johannesburg - The corn harvest in South Africa, the continent’s biggest producer, was probably smaller this year than 12 months earlier, a survey shows.
Growers produced 11.7 million metric tons of the grain, according to the median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The range was 11.55 million tons to 11.8 million tons.
This compares with the 12.1 million tons harvested last year, Marda Scheepers, a spokeswoman for the government’s Crop Estimates Committee, said by phone today.
The Pretoria-based committee will release the data on November 29, she said.
In 2010, South Africa produced 12.8 million tons of corn, the biggest crop since 1982.
Meal made from the white variety is one of the country’s staple foods and the yellow type is mainly used as animal feed.
The country will probably keep its estimate for wheat output unchanged from last month’s forecast of 1.79 million tons, according to a median prediction of three analysts in the survey.
The range was 1.77 million tons to 1.82 million tons.
The committee will release the data on November 26. - Bloomberg News