News

Africa: Zimbabwe maize imports suspension to hit South Africa

Maize (Corn)
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Published May 27, 2021

Tridge summary

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.

Original content

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," Wandile Sihlobo, the Agbiz economist, said. Zimbabwe's suspension of imports comes as the country approaches its maize harvest period. Data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that the domestic crop in Zimbabwe could reach between 2,7 million-to- 3,1 million metric tonnes of ...
Source: All Africa
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