Country News
India: India will likely experience a below-average monsoon this year due to the effects of El Nino, accourding to Reuters. Reduced rainfall could hit India’s corn growing region and raise the country’s already high food inflation rate that currently stands at 9 percent. Agriculture accounts for more than half of India’s workforce, and the government has plans to expand irrigated farmland in an effort to stave off the economic threat of low precipitation.
South Africa: Corn production estimates have been raised by 0.6 percent, reports Bloomberg News. Farmers are predicted to harvest 13.03 MMT of corn, which is up from last month’s forecast of 12.95 MMT and 11 percent above the 11.7 MMT brought in last year. This crop may be South Africa’s largest since 1981 when it produced 14.1 MMT. Yellow corn production has been raised by 0.3 percent to total 5.96 MMT. Yellow corn for July delivery has declined by 0.3 percent to $206.35/MT.