South Africa will probably cut its wheat production estimate for this season 0.9 per cent as dry weather further cuts yields in the Western Cape province, where harvesting has already started.
Growers may produce 1.62 million metric tonnes in the 2015-16 season, according to a median prediction of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey. That would be less than the Crop Estimates Committee’s 1.64 million-tonne forecast last month and the lowest since 2011. The range was 1.61 million tonnes to 1.64 million tonnes. The CEC will provide its data on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
Some parts of the Western Cape province, the region that produced more than 50 per cent of local output in 2014, hasn’t received enough rain as the harvest started and has reported below-average yields, according to Grain SA, the biggest representative of South African farmers of the cereal.
While South Africa is the sub-Saharan region’s biggest producer of wheat after Ethiopia, it’s still a net importer, according to US Department of Agriculture data. Wheat for delivery in December gained 0.5 per cent to 4,330 rand ($319) a tonne, the highest for a most-active contract since at least November 1997.
South Africa will probably increase corn plantings 5.8 per cent to 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) in 2016, a median of five analysts’ forecast in the survey showed. That compares with the committee’s final prediction of 2.65 million hectares for the 2015 season. The analysts’ estimates ranged from 2.6 million hectares to 2.7 million hectares. Farmers planted 2.69 million hectares in 2014.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
