Johannesburg - White corn in South Africa, the continent’s biggest producer of the grain mainly used as a staple food in parts of the sub-Saharan region, rose to the highest in 11 months, while the yellow type climbed to the highest in more than a year.
White corn for delivery in March rose for a sixth day, advancing 4.1 percent to 3,018 rand ($259) a metric ton, the highest for a most-active contract since March 12, by 9.37am in Johannesburg.
The South African Futures Exchange authorised extended trading limits for a fourth session, allowing prices to climb by as much as R120 a ton. Yellow corn for delivery in July added 1.3 percent to R2,515 a ton, the highest since January 21, 2014.
Dry, hot weather in the Free State and North West provinces has caused “irreversible” damage to crops in some areas, Jannie de Villiers, chief executive officer of Grain SA, said February 12.
White corn, called maize locally, is used to make a staple food known as pap while the yellow type is mainly fed to animals. The country’s 2014 harvest was its biggest since 1981 after yields rose to the highest on record, the Crop Estimates Liaison Committee said last week.
The two weeks following February 12 “will determine the fate of South African food prices over the next 12 months”, De Villiers said.
Bloomberg