Article
First white maize imported since 2017
Published: 03/02/2025
South Africa recently offloaded its first white maize
vessel since March 2017 in Durban. The country has not
imported white maize since the big drought of 2016/17.
This trend changed with last year’s poor crops, record
exports to Zimbabwe, and record high prices.
During the 2023/24 production year, grains and oilseeds
experienced a poor year with production declining from
the previous year by approximately 22,5% in the case
of maize and 33,5% for soya beans. In November 2024
the final estimate of the Crop Estimates Committee for
white maize production was at 6,007 million tonnes,
down by 29,3%, and yellow maize was at 6,716
million tonnes, down by 15,4%. In the South African
seasonal crop cycle, these products should last until
approximately March/April 2025 before the new crop
(planted in November and December 2024) becomes
available again.
Looking at South African demand only, this means the
country had just enough grains to feed itself. However,
from a Southern African perspective, during most years,
South Africa also supplies countries such as Botswana
and Namibia with the bulk of their demands. What the
South African grain industry did not fully anticipate
was that the drought would also affect crop production
in the countries around us, and we saw strong demand
from particularly Zimbabwe, not only for white but also
yellow maize. As early as the end of February 2024, it
became evident that South Africa would have to import
yellow maize and possibly white maize and soya beans.
– Press release, SACOTA