A new report by Grain SA reveals South Africa, the continent's biggest corn producer, may have to import almost half of its domestic corn, as the worst drought since 1992, exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon, disrupts the main producing areas. The country may need to import as much as 5m metric tonnes for the marketing year through to April 2017, as current domestic demand is forecast to be 299,000 tonnes. Grain SA's CEO Jannie de Villiers, says "we are past the point where we should call this a "disappointing crop'. This is now a disaster". The price of white corn, used to make a staple food called 'pap', has more than doubled since the beginning of last year, while the yellow variety that is primarily used for animal feed has climbed 63%. It is predicted that South Africa will contract farmers in South America for supplies of white corn, particularly Brazil and Argentina. Brazil has already delivered 10.5m tonnes of yellow corn to South Africa since May 2015, according to South African Grain Information Services' website.
A new report by Grain SA reveals South Africa, the continent's biggest corn producer, may have to import almost half of its domestic corn, as the worst drought since 1992, exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon, disrupts the main producing areas. The country may need to import as much as 5m metric tonnes for the marketing year through to April 2017, as current domestic demand is forecast to be 10.5m tonnes. Grain SA's CEO Jannie de Villiers, says "we are past the point where we should call this a "disappointing crop'. This is now a disaster". The price of white corn, used to make a staple food called 'pap', has more than doubled since the beginning of last year, while the yellow variety that is primarily used for animal feed has climbed 63%. It is predicted that South Africa will contract farmers in South America for supplies of white corn, particularly Brazil and Argentina. Brazil has already delivered 299,000 tonnes of yellow corn to South Africa since May 2015, according to South African Grain Information Services' website.