We continue to see excellent maize export activity. I think there will be a greater increase in momentum at the end of the year and going into 2026. At the moment, some countries, especially on the continent, still have supplies from the recent harvest. But they may need to supplement them later in the year.
It was interesting to see that last week, our maize exports are not only recovering in the Far East, but Venezuela is also reappearing in the export list once again, having imported 17,866 tonnes of South African white maize variety in the week of 01 August 2025. Not that Venezuela is a lucrative market, but the point is that we are back in export markets beyond the continent in the maize industry.
The last time Venezuela was in our maize export list with a decent maize purchase was in 2018, with about 31,500 tonnes of maize imports.
Anyways, I wanted to highlight in this post that South Africa exported 32,122 tonnes of maize in the week of 01 August 2025. About 56% was exported to Venezuela, and the rest to the Southern African region.
This placed South Africa’s 2025-26 maize exports at 460,431 tonnes, out of the expected seasonal exports of 2.12 million tonnes. The current marketing year only ends in April 2026.
Again, we will likely see more robust export activity later in the year as the demand increases in other regions of the world.
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