Johannesburg - South African wheat futures fell to the lowest level in almost six weeks in Johannesburg, after the US Department of Agriculture said stockpiles will be bigger than estimated.
Yellow and white corn declined.
Wheat for delivery in May dropped 53 rand to 3,880 rand ($373) a metric ton by the midday close, the lowest settlement since February 28.
Wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade, the global benchmark, dropped 1 percent today to $6.7075 a bushel.
US inventories on May 31, before the start of the harvest, will total 583 million bushels, compared with 558 million projected last month, the USDA said yesterday.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected 578 million bushels on average.
“The USDA in their monthly supply-and-demand report yesterday increased world wheat stocks a little and international wheat prices came down quite a bit last night,” Brink van Wyk, a trader at Pretoria-based BVG, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
South Africa, a net importer of wheat, is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest producer of the grain after Ethiopia and the region’s biggest buyer after Nigeria and Sudan, according to USDA data.
White corn for delivery in July dropped 1.6 percent to 2,077 rand a ton, while the yellow variety fell 1.4 percent to 2,181 rand a ton.
The nation is the continent’s largest producer of corn.
White corn is a staple food in South Africa, while the yellow type is mainly used for animal feed. - Bloomberg News