Agriculture: Wheat crop not likely to change

South Africa’s crop estimates committee will leave its wheat production forecast for this year unchanged, according to a survey. The prediction for output of the cereal would remain at 1.75 million tons, according to the median estimate of three analysts surveyed. That matches the last forecast by the committee on December 20 last year. Local farmers produced 1.87 million tons in the previous season. The estimate will be released on Tuesday. 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, US government data show. Wheat for March delivery fell 0.1 percent to R3 778 a ton on the SA Futures Exchange yesterday. – Bloomberg