Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana said South Africa, an agricultural bellwether, “might be compelled to import maize by April or May due to ongoing drought, reports The Citizen newspaper. Zokwana said the country had a four- to five-month supply of corn. “If South Africa ends up importing maize, food prices will go up,” said the newspaper.
Prices for white corn, a staple for lower-income families, more than doubled in 2015, while yellow corn, used in livestock feed, rose 70 percent, reports Reuters. Corn prices continued to climb on Monday. “The searing drought has been exacerbated by an El Niño weather system,” said Reuters, which quoted a corn trader as saying there was too little moisture to plant corn in the western part of South Africa’s corn belt. Dry weather in 2015 led to the smallest crop in eight years.
Drought-stricken India is headed for its first purchase of foreign-grown corn in 16 years because of poor crops and rising prices, reported Customs Today. It cited government sources in its story. One of them said India would seek non-GMO corn. “India is traditionally a major corn exporter to southeast Asia, but higher local prices because of the first back-to-back drought in nearly three decades and rising domestic demand have hampered exports,” said the newspaper.