“For the past three weeks, we’ve seen a switch of exports, with new yellow maize contracts going to Japan and Taiwan,” said Nico Hawkins, general manager of the SA Grain Information Service. Between 3 May and 24 May, 56 771t yellow maize and 51 458t white maize were exported. From 31 May, exports have been mainly yellow maize, with cumulative exports to 14 June standing at 244 366t yellow and 100 752t white maize.
Grain SA economists said the surge in yellow maize to the East had followed a visit by a Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese delegation to SA in April. “Since the start of the 2013/2014 marketing year, Japan has imported about 154 298t and Taiwan about 76 226t of SA yellow maize. There’s a prospect of more exports to these countries,” said Funzani Sundani, Grain SA economist.
The export rate for yellow maize for the first seven weeks of the 2013/2014 marketing season has exceeded that for the same period last year. Japan currently takes 63% of SA’s yellow maize exports, with Taiwan following at 31%. White maize exports were lower than 2012/2013, led by Mexico (36% or 36 700t) and followed by Botswana (24% or 24 433t), Namibia (13% or 12 626t) and Zimbabwe (11% or 11 564t).
“White maize exports to Mexico have now dried up. From market reports, we think Mexico has enough maize from their own harvest and from the USA,” said Hawkins. SA currently has about 580 000t yellow maize available for export for the current marketing season, which runs to April 2014. Grain SA senior economist Wessel Lemmer said that if exports continued at the current pace, SA could run out of yellow maize, a key animal feed ingredient.
Export intentions for the year will become clearer once the newly formed Grain and Oilseeds Supply and Demand Liaison Committee releases its monthly supply and demand estimates on 28 June. The committee is chaired by Dr John Purchase under the auspices of the National Agricultural Marketing Council with the approval of the Competition Commission.
“The publication of future imports and exports will be a positive development, as everyone in the supply chain will know what intended maize sales are, so prices can react accordingly. A prerequisite for the success of the committee is that industry is willing to supply this information freely. Getting more information on the table will foster healthy competition and enable secure food stability,” Lemmer said.
