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National & World Ag News Headlines |
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Zambia, South Africa to See Record Corn Harvest
USAgNet - 06/01/2017
South Africa said Friday it expects to reap an unprecedented 15.63 million metric tons this year, after rains during the prime growing period helped farmers rebound from the worst drought in more than a century.
White corn for July delivery dropped to 1,652.60 rand a ton, the lowest for a most-active contract in three years, in Johannesburg on Monday before rebounding to 1,729 rand a ton.
For Zambia, which this month lifted a corn-export ban after forecasting a record 3.6 million-ton crop, the biggest question is where to put it all. The country only has storage capacity of about 2.2 million tons, according to the Grain Traders Association, and with
neighbors Zimbabwe and Malawi already well-supplied, landlocked Zambia's export options are limited and costly.
Meanwhile, East Africa's 17 million people may be facing hunger, and concerns about food shortages. That's driving up prices as governments scramble to secure imports.
Bloomberg reports that volatile weather conditions, prompted by the 2015-16 El Nino weather pattern, have caused extremes of drought and heavy rain across sub-Saharan Africa. The resulting variations in crop yields are stretching the continent's storage
capacity and transport links while highlighting cross-border trade barriers that make it difficult for food to get where it's most needed.
In East Africa, countries including Kenya, Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia face a food-production deficit equivalent to about 30 percent of consumption, according to the Nairobi-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The effects of the drought have
been amplified by conflict -- about 5.5 million people are facing severe hunger in South Sudan while Somalia is on the brink of famine with 3.2 million people at risk, according to the United Nations' World Food Program.
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