South African maize futures slid on Tuesday, weighed down by good rains forecasts, which will potentially result in an above average crop yield for the 2011-12 season. The firmer rand/US dollar exchange rate also negatively affected the market.
The March 2012 white maize contract shed R69 to R2,516 per ton, the May 2012 white maize dropped R80 to R2,323 per ton, and July 2012 white maize lost R57 to R1,957 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The March 2012 yellow maize contract was down R64 to R2,540 per ton, May 2012 yellow maize contract shed R73 to R2,290 per ton and the July 2012 yellow maize contract was off R53 to R1,928 per ton.
The March wheat contract erased R29 to R2,764 per ton, while May wheat edged down R25 to R2,815 per ton, and the July 2012 wheat contract was down R16 to R2,864 per ton.
When the local grains market closed, the rand was firmer at 7.77 to the dollar from 7.83/dollar previously.
“We came off on the combination of good rain prospects later this week and a stronger rand/dollar exchange rate,” said Thys Grobbelaar, a trader at Senwes.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that US grain and soybean futures ended lower on Monday, with soybeans tumbling as forecasters projected a wetter trend for Argentina crops this week.
Traders extracted weather premium from both corn and soybean markets, but soybeans took the brunt of the losses.
Soybean losses were proportionately lower than corn and wheat, as the rains are primed to benefit soy crops heading into their critical reproductive stage of development, said Bill Nelson, analyst with Doane Advisory Service in St. Louis.
“Rains can still revive soybean crops, while based on the advanced stage of corn crops there, may only stabilise corn yields,” Nelson added.
CBOT March corn ended down 10 cents, or 1.6%, to US$6.31 3/4 a bushel. - I-Net Bridge