Johannesburg - South African white corn futures rose the most in more than three weeks on speculation of tight local supplies.
White corn for delivery in December, the most active contract, increased 2.4 percent to 2,392 rand ($238) a metric ton, the most since June 20, by the close on the South African Futures Exchange.
The yellow variety for delivery in September gained 1.5 percent to 2,270 rand a ton.
The country will probably consume 4.54 million tons of yellow corn and could supply 5.74 million tons in the marketing year through April, the Grain and Oilseeds Supply and Demand Estimates Committee said in a report released on June 28.
“Local supply and demand is starting to worry people,” Brink van Wyk, a trader at BVG (Pty) Ltd., said by phone from Pretoria. “People are getting scared stocks might be tighter, especially with the Crop Estimates Committee announcement that production is low.”
Rising exports of yellow corn are also a concern, Jannie de Villiers, chief executive officer of Grain SA, a growers’ association, said July 10.
The nation exported 77,586 tons of yellow corn to Japan in the week to July 5, the Pretoria-based South African Grain Information Service said in statement on its website.
That’s the biggest shipment in a week since at least April 28, 2012, when Sagis started providing weekly historical data.
The C.E.C. cut its forecast for corn output by 0.6 percent to 11.38 million tons in a June 25 report.
South Africa produced 11.8 million tons last year and 12.8 million tons in 2010, the biggest harvest since 1982.
South Africa is the continent’s largest producer of corn. Meal made from the white variety is a staple food, while yellow corn is mainly used as animal feed.
Soybeans for delivery in September declined 0.3 percent to 5,505 rand a ton. - Bloomberg News