South African maize futures rallied on Monday amid continued market concerns about poor rainfall impacting on the 2011-12 crop yields.
The March 2012 white maize contract shot up R94 to R2,650 per ton, the May 2012 white maize gained R49 to R2,374 per ton, and July 2012 white maize was up R65 to R2,245 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The March 2012 yellow maize contract climbed R92 to R2,450 per ton, the May 2012 yellow maize contract rose R48 to R2,248 per ton and the July 2012 yellow maize contract gained R48 to R2,185 per ton.
The March wheat contract was down R6 to R2,697 per ton, May wheat shed R14 to R2,740 per ton but July 2012 wheat contract was unchanged at R2,800 per ton.
“We could see the reduction in the maize production estimate later this month due to poor rainfall thus far. We also encountered cold temperatures in the Free State and Highveld which could impact on the expected yields,” said Hansie Swanepoel, a trader at Vrystaat Mielies.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the US soybean futures closed higher on Friday, supported by strong export demand and worries that corn planting in the US would take acres away from soybeans this season.
Soybeans for May delivery set a new six-month high for the front-month contract, closing up 5 cents, or 0.4%, at $13.74 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. It marked the 25th time soybeans have ended higher in the last 33 trading days, extending a rally underpinned by drought damage to South America's soy crop, which analysts say could drive more export demand to the US.
US corn futures ended mostly higher, boosted by optimism about Chinese demand. CBOT May corn ended up 4 cents, or 0.6%, at $6.73 a bushel. - I-Net Bridge