Maize exports were being hampered by South Africa’s lack of competitiveness on the international market, which was the result of the relatively high local price, according to Jannie de Villiers, Grain SA (GSA) CEO.
The high carry-over maize stock was the result of the relatively high SAFEX price, which made it very difficult for South African producers to compete with the US and Argentina. “GSA is nevertheless in the process of looking into a number of export possibilities in the Middle East, including Iran,” he said.
Hansie Viljoen, chairperson of Suidwes Agriculture, said commodity organisations needed to do more to develop export markets for SA maize. Maize could, for example, be marketed as a niche product to longstanding maize importers such as Japan, despite the relatively high local export prices.
Esta historia es de la edición February 9, 2018 de Farmer's Weekly.
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