South African Corn Pegged at 9.13 Million MT

PRETORIA - Mar 20/03 - STAT -- South African corn production is now pegged at 9.13 million metric tons (MT), slightly ahead of the 9.1 million MT produced last year, according to the latest crop production estimates from the South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS).

In releasing its estimates, SAGIS noted the production forecast for commercial maize increased slightly by 0,07% to 8,844 million MT and the area estimate by 0,5% to 3.015 million hectares.

Although weather conditions in some of the production areas deteriorated since the previous forecast in February, the slight increase in production is mainly the result of adjustments in the area planted to yellow maize as well as an increase in the yield of yellow maize from 3,200 to 3,300 kilograms per hectare in Mpumalanga.

The area planted to commercial white maize remained unchanged at 2.023 million hectares, while the production forecast decreased by 1.0% to 5.641 million MT. In the case of yellow maize the area planted increased by 1.5% to 992,000 hectares, and the production forecast also increased by 2.1% to 3.203 million MT. The yield for white maize is 2,790 kilograms per hectare and 3,230 kilograms per hectare for yellow maize. The estimated area of white maize under irrigation is approximately 5% and dry land 95%. The estimated area of yellow maize under irrigation is approximately 11% and dry land 89%.

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