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Agricultural futures - January 18, 2006
January 18, 2006
Johannesburg - Local maize prices rose sharply yesterday despite good recent rains ahead of tomorrow's release of key estimates of how much land farmers have planted with the crop.
Underscoring the high price of local crops compared with their global counterparts, data from the SA Grain Information Service yesterday showed South Africa imported 27 577 tons of yellow maize from Argentina last week.
March white maize rose 4.3 percent to close the session at R1 099 a ton, still well below a 22-month peak of R1 229 hit late in December. The equivalent yellow maize contract edged up R4 to R954.
"Things are getting pushed up ahead of Thursday's planting data. A figure of 1.6 million hectares or less will be bullish," said one local trader, who pegged the price in a short-term range of R950 to R1 200 a ton.
Farmers are expected to have planted 1.61 million hectares of maize, according to a consensus forecast by eight banks and trading houses compiled by Reuters last week. The figure is 45 percent less than the 2.93 million hectares planted last year.
- Reuters
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