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JOHANNESBURG, April 23 (Reuters) – South Africa’s maize
stocks fell to their lowest level since the start of the May
2011-April 2012 marketing season, renewing fears of a low
carry-over into the new season starting next month.
The stocks fell to 1.309 million tonnes at the end of March
from a revised 1.868 million tonnes at the end of February,
South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS) data showed on
Monday.
They included 809,000 tonnes of white maize and 500,000
t onnes o f yellow, SAGIS said in its monthly bulletin.
“Stocks are still quite tight but we have been buffered by
the early deliveries (to silos) and the imports that are coming
in now,” Piet Faure, a soft commodities analyst at CJS
Securities, said.
South Africa harvested 10.36 million tonnes of maize in the
2010/11 season. With a national consumption of between 8 and 9
million tonnes, the rest of the maize is destined for export.
But the country committed too much of its maize for exports
and is now importing from Zambia, Romania and Ukraine to make up
for deficits.
The SAGIS data showed that total exports reached 2.497
million tonnes at the end of March. This compares with a total
of 2.194 million tonnes for the previous marketing season.
The strong demand had helped local maize prices to scale to
record highs earlier this year but they have since retreated.
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