Africa: Zimbabwe maize imports suspension to hit South Africa

Published 2021년 5월 26일

Tridge summary

Zimbabwe is projected to have its largest maize harvest in 37 years, which is expected to significantly impact South Africa's maize market. This has led Zimbabwe to suspend all maize imports, making it a major development for South Africa's maize exports, which relied heavily on Zimbabwe as a market. The United States Department of Agriculture anticipates that Zimbabwe's maize production could reach between 2.7 and 3.1 million metric tonnes, while South Africa could have a maize surplus of 2.8 million tonnes. The region, including Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania, is also expected to have large maize harvests. South African maize prices have remained high despite the potential surge in regional maize supply, and the economist Wandile Sihlobo suggests that South Africa may need to look at the Far East as potential markets.

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Original content

Johannesburg — THE largest harvest of the staple maize in 37 years, which has led Zimbabwe to suspend all imports of the grain, is projected to have significant bearing on South Africa's maize market. Northern neighbour, Zimbabwe, has for years been the most dominant maize export market for South Africa. The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) highlighted that in the 2,6 million tonnes of maize that South Africa exported within the 2020/21 marketing year, which started in May 2020 and ended in April 2021, about 20 percent of the volume went to Zimbabwe. This made Zimbabwe the single largest maize export market for South Africa in the 2020/21 marketing year. Other notable export markets were Taiwan, South Korea, Botswana, Vietnam and Japan, amongst others. "It is this significance of Zimbabwe as a market for South Africa's maize exports that makes last week's announcement by Zimbabwean authorities to suspend all maize and maize meal imports with immediate effect consequential," ...

Source: All Africa