South Africa will likely miss its maize export forecast for the 2025-26 marketing year

Loading player...
South Africa may miss its maize export forecast of 2.4 million tonnes for the 2025-26 marketing year, which ends in April. The exports so far are at 1.7 million tonnes as of the first week of March 2026. Given a softer weekly export pace, it is unlikely that the country will see strong enough momentum in the remaining weeks of the current marketing year to reach the 2.4 million tonnes seasonal forecast for maize exports. The challenge is the softer global demand, not supply availability. I discuss this issue further in the podcast and its implications for the sector and maize users.

Listen to the podcast for more.
16 Mar English South Africa Investing · Food

Other recent episodes

South Africa’s farming fortunes are positive at the start of 2026

The South African farming sector had a broadly positive start to 2026. This is notwithstanding the challenges posed by foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, African swine fever in the pig industry, and floods in the northeastern regions of South Africa at the start of the year. Still, higher economic activity across…
17 Jun 10 min

Recent floods are another headwind for South Africa’s agricultural growth

We are likely in another year of mixed fortunes in South Africa’s agriculture. At an aggregate level, we believe that the sector is likely to see some growth this year. However, the subsector view will show significant divergence, as various parts of the sector face an array of pressures. One…
20 May 7 min