South Africa: Corn Plantings Up
5 February 2008 South Africa’s National Dept. of Agriculture figures for the 2007/08 yellow corn crop show a 22% increase over last year, with more expansion expected for the coming season, according to the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS).
While the white corn crop was finalized at 4.315 million tons on 1.625 million hectares (m. Ha), or 2% less than the previous year, the yellow corn crop was finalized at 2.81 million tons on 927,000 Ha, which is 22% more than the previous season.
Early estimates on the corn area planted for 2008/09 forecast 2.786 m. Ha of corn planted, which is 9.2% more than the previous season. The area estimate for white corn is 1.714 m. Ha, an increase of 5.5% from the previous season, and the area for yellow corn is estimated to be 1.072 m. Ha, which is a 15.6% increase over last season.
In other crops, the area estimate for sunflower seed is 482,250 Ha, which is 52.4% more than the 316,350 Ha planted last season. It is estimated that 165,000 Ha have been planted to soybeans, which represents a decrease of 9.8% compared to last season. The area estimate for sorghum increased by 19.1%, from 69,000 ha to 82,200 Ha.
Continuous good rains across the corn producing areas of South Africa are very favorable for this year’s crop. There are already speculations that the crop could exceed 11 million tons.
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