Currently high maize prices in South Africa will lead to an increment in the country’s total corn area in the 2024-25 season. This is according to a July 23, 2024 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s forecast.
South Africa began experiencing upshot maize prices after an 18% corn area decline in the 2023-24 period following an El Niño drought. These same high prices are now turning the tables by financing the area increment.
For one, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) projects the acreage expansion to come through modern production techniques and precision agriculture.
Maize Prices at Jo’Burg Market
The report could influence the daily trade values in key markets, especially those in Johannesburg.
Notably, on July 30, 2024, prices at the Johannesburg market were still high at 108.01 Rand ($5.93) per kg for sweet corn.
Baby sweet corn, which traded in 200 g punnet pack boxes, in its part averaged 120.74 Rand ($6.63) a kg.
The influential market also showed daily quantity and turnover stability in sweet corn sales. By July 31, for instance, the market had registered 4,974,691 Rand ($273,160.28) from 48,649 kg in month-to-date (MTD) sales. The daily value of sweet corn for the 31st alone was 111,291 Rand ($699.88) from sales totaling 1,488 kg.
USDA Export Projections
The above figures show sufficient reserves and echo USDA’s projections that South Africa will export 1.5 million tonnes of corn in 2024.
In retrospect, the country exported 3.4 million tonnes in the 2022-23 season when the harvest peaked at 17.09 million tonnes.
The lion’s share of South Africa’s maize exports goes to neighbors Zimbabwe and Botswana, alongside South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
After subtracting the 2023-24 exports, South Africa’s year-end reserves will decline by 36% to 1.5 million tonnes. However, these stocks could rise by 20% to 1.8 million tonnes in the 2024-25 season.
Thus, so long as maize prices remain strong, they will fuel the corn acreage expansion drive in South Africa. But this is not all there is to the country’s maize sector, as the statistics below show.
South Africa Maize Statistics
South Africa is a major producer of yellow and white maize. It ranked 10th worldwide in the 2023-24 market year with a production volume of 16.8 million tonnes. Out of this annual production, the country exports between 3 million and 3.5 million tonnes (2021-22 and 2022-23 USDA estimates). The rest goes into domestic consumption at between 11.6 million and 11.8 million tonnes, according to USDA’s estimates for 2021-22 and 2022-23 years.
What maize product does South Africa lead in exports?
While a major exporter of raw corn, South Africa however leads the world in the export of animal feed (corn groats) and corn meal. According to the World Bank, South Africa’s corn groat and corn meal exports reached 445.689 million tonnes worth $162.087 million in 2022. The next biggest exporter, the United States, sold a third of that volume at 135.9 million tonnes. For raw corn, South Africa ranked 8th worldwide in 2023 with exports worth $1,2 billion.
What is more popular between yellow corn and white maize in South Africa?
As human food, white maize leads consumption at 5,400,000 kg while yellow corn follows at 600,000 kg, for the 2021-22 estimate. Comparably, yellow corn leads popularity in animal feed at 4,650,000 kg while white maize commands 1,000,000 kg, for the 2021-22 USDA estimate.
What is the corn yield per acre in South Africa?
In 2019, South Africa planted 2.9 million hectares of corn that yielded 17,000 tonnes, the 9th highest globally. The yield rate in 2019 was 4.8 tonnes a hectare.