It appears that Zimbabwe has taken the right step and eased the ban on maize imports. I was reviewing South Africa’s maize exports for the week of 26 September 2025, and Zimbabwe was listed as an importer. During that week, South Africa exported 27,624 tonnes of maize, with 47% (12,858 tonnes) of it being exported to Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s 2025-26 maize exports so far stand at 650 897 tonnes, which is far below the seasonal export forecast of 2.2 million tonnes.
Ordinarily, Zimbabwe is one of South Africa’s large maize markets, in addition to countries in the Far East and some African countries. However, last month, Zimbabwe issued a notice temporarily banning the import of maize due to improved domestic supplies.
Our view was that the country didn’t have sufficient maize to meet its annual demand and would need to import maize. We based our view on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), indicating that Zimbabwe’s maize production is approximately 1.3 million tonnes. Given the annual consumption of 2.0 million tonnes, they naturally need about 700,000 tonnes to fulfil their needs.
There was also growing evidence that the supply is constrained. Some milling firms are already facing challenges due to the maize shortage.
Witnessing South Africa’s maize exports to Zimbabwe brings relief. The exports mean that the millers who faced maize shortages a few weeks ago may now have sufficient supplies. This also means that consumers may again have access to better-priced global maize supplies.
Still, we will have to watch this issue closely as I haven’t seen any official communication from the country.
After the country announced its ban, we discussed the details of the issue in our AgriView episode, which is available to watch here.
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