South African maize futures ended off their intra-day lows‚ helped by the rand/US dollar weakness.
The white maize contract for December 2012 delivery was down R10 to R2‚425 per ton and the white maize contract for March 2013 delivery dipped R20 to close at R2‚436 per ton.
The yellow maize contract for December 2012 delivery slipped R2 to R2‚506 and the yellow maize contract for March 2013 delivery shed R13 to close at R2‚498.
The wheat contract for December 2012 delivery gave back R9 to close at R3‚647 and the wheat contract for March 2012 delivery lost R21 to close at R3‚720.
Pieter van Wyk‚ head of commodities at PSG Prime‚ said: “We followed the lower Chicago corn prices and stronger rand although the rand weakened through the session.”
US corn futures fell 1.9% on Friday on renewed worries about weak export demand and technically based selling‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Corn has been pressured for weeks by concerns that high prices have curbed demand for the grain‚ and those concerns resurfaced on Friday‚ as export demand remained soft overall.
Corn for March delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade ended down 1.9%‚ to $7.37 1/4. - I-Net Bridge