Across South Africa’s summer grain and oilseed growing regions, farmers and farm workers are hard at work harvesting. The process is in full swing in oilseeds – mainly soybeans and sunflower seeds – where over half of the expected harvest has already been delivered to commercial silos.
However, for the staple grain – maize – it will be a few weeks until we see notable progress. During the week of May 23, South African farmers delivered 446 296 tonnes of the new season’s maize to commercial silos. This was the fourth delivery for the new season, bringing the overall maize deliveries so far to 941 038 tonnes. This is both white and yellow maize (about 64% is yellow maize and 36% is white maize).
I know this volume looks pretty decent, and it is, but if we compare the 941 038 tonnes delivered so far with the same period in the previous season, the volumes are down 71%. This is due to the issue we have repeatedly mentioned: the late start of the 2024-25 season, caused by unfavourable weather conditions and the prolonged rainy cycle that extended into April.
However, the prolonged rainy cycle also raises concerns about the quality of crops for the season. This is an issue we will monitor closely in the coming weeks and months, but I thought it would be helpful to note that, in the 941 038 tonnes of maize already delivered, the quality is relatively good. Approximately 89% of the crop is of first-grade quality.
Of course, we can’t celebrate yet; we are still a long way from completing South Africa’s 2024-25 maize harvest. The overall 2024-25 total maize harvest is estimated at 14.64 million tonnes, representing a 14% year-on-year increase, primarily due to expected annual yield improvements.
Of these 14.64 million tonnes, about 7.65 million tonnes is white maize, and 6.99 million tonnes is yellow maize.
Importantly, these forecasts are well above South Africa’s annual maize needs of approximately 11.80 million tonnes, implying that South Africa will have a surplus and remain a net exporter of maize.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to my newsletter here for free. You can also follow me on X (@WandileSihlobo)
