South African farmers are harvesting a large corn crop this year, boosting expectations of fertilizer demand in the fourth quarter.
Growers will harvest the second-largest corn crop in a decade at 16.4mn t, about 22pc more than last year, according to the South African Grain Information Service (Sagis). But corn prices are considerably lower than last year — currently hovering around R4,000/t for white maize on the Safex exchange for the December contract versus R5,450/t a year ago — and overall farm income from corn will probably be lower as a result, Argus estimates.
Nevertheless, sentiment among fertilizer importers and distributors has been buoyed by the prospect of a bumper corn crop and a large number of fertilizer cargoes have been booked to arrive before corn planting begins in the fourth quarter.
Winter-planted crops such as wheat and barley will begin harvesting soon and Sagis estimates that these will also generally see more production than last year. The wheat harvest is estimated at 2.04mn t, up by 5.9pc on last year, while barley is down by 5.3pc to 353,000t. Canola — or rapeseed — is set to see its largest-ever crop at 320,000t — up by 10pc on last year.
