South African maize futures succumbed to profit taking on Wednesday after the release of the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) report, which was broadly in line with market expectations.
The May 2012 white maize contract was down R74 to R2,311 per ton, July 2012 white maize fell R57 to R2,233 per ton, and September 2012 white maize dropped R63 to R2,257 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The May 2012 yellow maize contract was down R65 to R2,174 per ton, while the July 2012 yellow maize contract was off R47 to R2,153 per ton and the September 2012 yellow maize contract slid R44 to R2,174 per ton.
The May wheat contract was down R8 to R2,731 per ton, July wheat edged down R10 to R2,781 per ton, while the September 2012 wheat contract was unchanged at R2,800 per ton.
“The range of crop forecasts leading to the Crop Estimates Committee meeting was large among market players. It could be that some of them are lightening their long positions now that the official figures are out,” a local dealer said.
SA's maize output estimate for the 2011-12 season has been lowered by 3.42% to 11.305 million tons, the committee said in its revised area and second production forecasts on summer crops on Tuesday.
The yellow maize forecast was down 2.76% to 4.766 million tons, while the forecast for white maize dropped 3.89% to 6.539 million tons. The area planted for white maize was 1.636 million hectares, while for yellow was 1.063 million hectares. The committee said drought conditions negatively affected the expected yields. - I-Net Bridge