South African maize futures ended mostly lower on Monday due to some profit taking following last week's strong gains.
The March 2012 white maize contract was up R17 to R2,582 per ton, but the May 2012 white maize dipped R19 to R2,254 per ton, and July 2012 white maize shed R3.80 to R2,140.20 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The March 2012 yellow maize contract was down R55 to R2,480 per ton, the May 2012 yellow maize contract dipped R15 to R2,180 per ton and the July 2012 yellow maize contract shed R6 to R2,093 per ton.
The March wheat contract lost R6 to R2,710 per ton, May wheat was down R5 to R2,768 per ton as was the July 2012 wheat contract, which shed R5.40 to R2,817.60 per ton.
“It's a technical correction. The market was sitting in overbought territory after a string of strong gains recently,” said Thys Grobbelaar, market watcher at agribusiness, Senwes.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that corn and wheat markets managed to climb on Friday. Corn rose amid speculation China was buying US corn, as well as from tight cash markets.
US wheat futures managed to ward off pressure from a sharply higher US dollar, fuelled by the US Department of Agriculture lowering its outlook for domestic year-end supplies by 2.4% on increased exports. - I-Net Bridge