Country News
South Africa: The Crop Estimates Committee has maintained its prediction for a corn crop that could be the smallest in eight years, reports Bloomberg News. Farmers could harvest up to 9.67 MMT this year, which would be the smallest seen since 2007. While the forecast for yellow corn production was increased slightly to total 5.03 MMT (a 1.2 percent increase), prices for the grain have risen by 12 percent in recent weeks.
Ukraine: UkrAgroConsult has reduced its predictions for the 2015 corn harvest due to a smaller planting area, according to Reuters. Corn production could fall to 23 MMT, which is down from an earlier prediction of 25.9 MMT.
Zambia: Zambia may sell as much as 1/3 of its record corn harvest abroad, according to Bloomberg News. The 2014 harvest totaled 3.2 MMT and the agricultural ministry has indicated that it is looking to sell around 1 MMT. This bumper crop comes as South Africa and Botswana suffer from severe drought, while Malawi and Mozambique are enduring damaging floods.