South African maize futures reach record high as drought fears worsen
South African maize futures reach record high as drought fears worsen
White maize futures in South Africa hit record highs , as the national weather service forecast the drought to continue through the southern-hemisphere summer . " The forecasting system is confidently showing that going towards the late summer and early autumn seasons , the likelihood of dry conditions over most parts of the country is still high ," the South African Weather Service said .
White maize futures in Johannesburg found new highs of 4,235 rand a tonne , up 22 % since the start of the month .
South Africa is in the midst of the worst drought in 30 years , leaving the ground too dry to plant in some areas , and with the ideal sowings window having closed . " A large part of South African maize producing region remains dry and some areas , particularly the western areas have not progressed much with planting ," industry group Grain SA said . Maize plantings in North West province were estimated at 22 % of the intended hectares and in the northwest and central Free State were estimated at 11 % of the intended area .
The drought has been caused by the El Nino phenomenon , which can cause dry weather in parts of southern Africa , and reaches its peak over the southern-hemisphere summer .
This month Grain SA warned that in the case of below normal rainfall South Africa , which is usually a net maize exporter , would have to import 1,3million tonnes of white maize , in addition to 2.27m tonnes of yellow maize .
White maize is processed into mealie meal , the staple food for most of Southern Africa ' s population . Less than 10 % of the global maize crop is white maize , with the rest being yellow maize used primarily in feed and ethanol production .
Although widely grown across Africa , few countries are net exporters after the Portuguese brought the seed to Africa from Mexico more than five hundred years ago .
South Africa has been importing from Zambia but supplies are drying up so SA buyers will become more reliant on imports from Mexico .
White maize futures have also been boosted by the weakness of the rand , which lifts the price of rand-denominated assets , and depresses imports . The Rand has been trending down against the dollar for years plummeted to an all-time when President Jacob Zuma unexpectedly fired his finance minister .
Grain SA attribute around half of the strength in white maize futures this season to the effect of the rand , and half to the drought .
Kakoma Kanganja Is New Police IG
President Lungu has appointed Kakoma
Kanganja as Inspector-General of Police , taking over from Stella Libongani , who will be deployed into the foreign service .
In a statement issued in Lusaka , special assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda said Ms Libongani has been redeployed to Canada as Zambia ’ s high commissioner .
Mr Kanganja was , until his appointment , the deputy inspector-general of police for administration . This post has now been taken over by Eugene Sibote , who was Eastern Province commissioner of police until this promotion . Mr Malcolm Mulenga remains as deputy inspector general for operations .
FARMERS GAZETTE November 2015 55