Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Directorate: Economic Services - Economic Research
Closing prices at Friday
1 year ago / Last week / This week
RSA White Maize per ton (May contract) / R1 614.00 / R1 148.00 / R1 096.00
RSA Yellow Maize per ton (May contract) / R1 457.00 / R1 214.00 / R1 164.00
USA Yellow Maize per ton (May contract) / $165.11 / $143.30 / $144.25
RSA Wheat per ton (May contract) / R2 666.00 / R2 267.00 / R2 227.00
USA Wheat per ton (May contract) / $212.60 / $182.69 / $173.06
RSA Soybeans per ton (May contract) / R3 295.00 / R2 590.00 / R2 530.00
USA Soybeans per ton (May contract) / $422.55 / $347.37 / $352.88
RSA Sunflower seed per ton (May contract) / R2 995.00 / R3 435.00 / R3 395.00
Exchange rate R/$ / R8.54 / R7.68 / R7.55
Oil price per barrel / $56.25 / $78.46 / $77.87
Discussions
After much satisfactory performance of all the local grains last week, local grain sales were disappointing this week with a price slump in all grains. White and yellow maize prices fell sharply by 4.5% and 4.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, wheat, sunflower and soybean prices declined by 1.8%, 1.1%, and 2.3%, respectively. US maize and soybean prices continued to rise, recording increases of 0.7% and 1.6%, respectively, while wheat price declined by 5.3%. The Rand firmed by 1.7% against the US Dollar as compared to the previous week. On the other hand, Brent crude oil price declined by 0.8% as compared to the previous week.
Latest news developments
Factory output surged at its fastest pace in two years in March with manufacturing production rising, year-on-year, by 6.3% in March and by 2.6% month-on-month. Eleven major manufacturers and South Africa’s three main labour federations have called for the government to weaken the Rand by pegging its value at R10.50/$ in order to make exports more competitive and save manufacturing sector jobs. The gold price soared this week on the news that the European government has unveiled a $1 trillion bail-out plan for markets in an effort to contain a debt crisis that has threatened to shatter confidence in the Euro. The gold price hit a high of $1249.40/oz on Friday, up 1.4% from Thursday’s closing price. The IMF has urged governments to cut public debt to prevent higher interest rates and slower economic growth. The IMF further forecasts a 110% of gross domestic product rise in debt by 2015 in developed economies. According to Prof. Richard Mkandawire, the Adviser for Agriculture at NEPAD, even though South Africa is spending more than 10% of its budget on agriculture which is in line with the objectives of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), more resources continue to benefit large commercial farmers and do very little to advance emerging farmers.
Source: SAFEX, Reserve Bank, Business Day Use of this information sheet is at own risk