Local maize exports four times higher than 2004
September 27, 2005
By Peter Apps
Johannesburg - Total South African maize exports for the marketing year to date were four times higher than at the same time last year, official data showed yesterday, but traders said rising prices would see a fall in demand.
In the trading year from May to the end of August, South Africa had exported 840 000 tons of maize against only 202 000 tons at the same time last year, the SA Grain Information Service (Sagis) said.
Last week, grain traders said Japanese buyers had cancelled a port slot for exporting 70 000 tons of South African yellow maize on rising prices, and the UN World Food Programme warned it might look elsewhere for its southern African purchases if prices rose.
Malawi had also sourced some maize from Tanzania instead of South Africa as prices rise, traders said.
Last week, SA's Crop Estimates Committee said it was standing by its estimate of a 12.18 million ton crop, but the Sagis figures showed the country's unused maize stocks stood at only 8.9 million tons at the end of August, up on 8.4 million recorded last year.
- Reuters
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