The spot month white maize price drops to R4380 per ton, with the July 25 price lower at R4346. The yellow maize spot price drops to R4005, with the July 25 price lower at R4011 per ton. The soybean spot price drops to R7097, with the July price lower at R7180 per ton.

The spot month white maize price rises to R4455 per ton, with the July 25 price higher at R4465. The yellow maize spot price increases to R4103, with the July 25 price higher at R4138 per ton. The soybean spot price rises to R7204, with the July price higher at R7275 per ton.

The sunflower spot price declines week-on-week to R8886 per ton, with the July price also lower at R9004 per ton. The wheat spot price decreases to R6491, with the December price now higher at R6365 per ton.

The sorghum import parity price landed in Durban stands at R4792, with shelled Argentine groundnuts at R22,237, and the cotton price now at R10,020.

In the grain industry, there are always factors trying to push prices in both directions, but the question is, which factors are weighing most at the moment? Brazil last week adjusted their Safrinha maize crop upwards by about 4 million tons, which put pressure on CBOT prices. On the other hand, the USA still has about 5.5 million acres of maize to plant in June. Studies have shown that the optimal planting time is before the end of May in most areas, which may now negatively impact the yields of plantings that need to happen in June. Although we are not behind last year’s planting pace, doubts are beginning to arise whether America will achieve record yields this year. So the question now is, can the better crop in Brazil and more plantings in America push maize prices lower, or can lower stock levels and weaker production conditions support the markets? However, I think we should look at the funds’ positions and the uncertainty around tariffs. If more stability comes in the trading environment, it could motivate funds to take longer positions again and push the whole market up. Unfortunately, more uncertainty would mean the opposite.

Locally, maize prices traded stronger last week, and our expectation is that this happened because the white maize crop was adjusted down by 1.4%, but the slow harvesting process kept yellow maize prices stronger, although the yellow maize crop was adjusted upwards by 1.2%. We can expect that prices may remain at a higher level for maize, as white maize deliveries are 72% lower and yellow maize deliveries are 70% lower than at the same time last year. Our concern, however, is that the price could be significantly suppressed as we begin to see more maize coming into the market, but we must remember that lower-quality maize could counteract this decline for Grade 1 maize. Sunflower has for the first time in a month started trading above its band, while soybeans have also broken their strong downward trend. This may possibly be a technical signal that harvest pressure is starting to lessen, and prices may begin to stabilize over the next week or two.