Maize harvest early due to drought

More than 80% of the 2014/2015 white maize harvest had been delivered so far this year.

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This represented 3 669 million ton of the estimated 4 484 million ton white maize crop and excluded maize that has been retained by producers, said Petru Fourie, Grain SA’s research co-ordinator and production cost analyst.

Maize harvesting had started approximately three weeks earlier than usual because of the drought that hit SA’s summer grain production region during the past year, said Fourie in a Grain SA statement.

The bulk of the SA maize crop was usually delivered in July. The dry conditions resulted in the 2014/2015 maize crop ripening much faster than usual.

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Some 90% of the 2014/2015 yellow maize harvest had been delivered so far. This represented 4 251 million tons of the estimated 4 689 million tons, on-farm retentions excluded.

The total delivery for both white and yellow maize, for the first 13 weeks of the 2015/2016 marketing year amounted to 7 920 million tons. Together with the early deliveries in March and April (541 956t) this amounted to 86,3% of the estimated 9 172 million ton crop.