2021 maize harvest seen up 4% on favourable weather

South African maize farmers are expected to harvest 4% more of the staple crop in the 2020/2021 season than in the previous season, boosted by favourable weather conditions, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Thursday.

The CEC, giving its first production estimate for the season, pegged the 2021 harvest at 15.849 million tonnes, up from the 15.300 million tonnes harvested last season.

The committee estimates 8.799 million tonnes of white maize, used for human consumption, and 7.050 million tonnes of yellow maize, used mainly in animal feed, to have been planted.

The government’s estimate is lower than a Reuters poll of five traders and analysts that pegged maize output at 16.872 million tonnes.