South Africa: Grain and Feed Annual

After exceptional consecutive production seasons of solid growth supported by relatively high commodity prices and favorable weather conditions, wheat and corn producers in South Africa are optimistically looking forward to the 2022 production season. However, the availability and cost of production inputs, especially fertilizer, are discouraging a more bullish production outlook. The cost of farming inputs more than doubled the past year, increasing the risk of production in a weather dependent industry. As a result, Post forecasts that South Africa’s corn area will stay flat in marketing year (MY) 2022/23, while wheat area will increase by a modest 10 percent. However, South Africa should maintain its status as a net exporter of corn in MY 2022/23 with exports of around 2.5 million metric tons (MMT), while wheat and wheat products imports should remain at 1.7 MMT. South Africa’s rice imports are expected to increase by three percent to 1.1 MMT on a marginal growth in demand.