The spot price for white maize rises to R5300 per ton, with the Jul’25 price higher at R4350. The yellow maize spot price rises to R4800, with the Jul’25 price higher at R4265 per ton. The soybean spot price rises to R7820, with the May’25 price higher at R7796 per ton.

The sunflower spot price rises to R8800 per ton, with the May’25 price also higher at R8800 per ton. The wheat spot price rises to R6250, with the Dec’25 price now at R6328 per ton.

The sorghum import parity price landed in Durban is R4908, with dehulled Argentine groundnuts at R20,765, and the cotton price is now at R10,740.

If we look at a technical level, and especially at the long-term trends, we can now see that the 100-day average for both white and yellow maize, as well as sunflower, has started to turn, and we can expect to be in a technical downtrend within the next month. Soybeans, on the other hand, are much more sideways, with both trends trading very close to each other, and we expect this to continue until the harvest pressure is over, and most of the soybeans have been delivered.

The biggest factor determining prices in the grain industry now is certainly all the tariffs imposed by President Trump, and markets are closely watching how other countries will respond. CBOT grain prices have reacted relatively negatively to the news and prices have been significantly suppressed after China announced a 34% import tariff on all U.S. imports. This will continue to affect prices now and could unfortunately bring a lot of volatility to the market. The U.S.’s preliminary planting intentions, released early last week, had little effect on CBOT prices because the report was close to industry expectations, and most of this news was already priced in.

When we stop to look at soybeans, plantings are about 4% lower, due to weak profitability and high world stocks. There is an expectation that the trade war, especially with China, could further suppress soybean plantings in the U.S., which may bring positive signals back into the soybean market in the long term. There is also uncertainty about the weather forecast, with the U.S. potentially experiencing wet conditions that could delay planting, which may provide some support for prices.

Locally, it has rained very nicely over the summer grain area in the last few days and over the weekend, but this could now become a problem. We see spot prices trading upwards due to the Rand weakening significantly, as well as early plantings that cannot be harvested because the fields are too wet. However, it seems that the weather may start to clear up, which could allow the harvesting process to begin and bring more supply to the market. This won’t happen immediately, but spot prices should start to fall closer to the end of the month. The question now is, where is the exchange rate headed? Could it push prices higher, or will the Dollar weaken, and the Rand perhaps strengthen a little?