The white maize spot price has decreased week on week to R5,585, while the July ’25 price has fallen to R3,746. In contrast, the yellow maize spot price has increased week on week to R4,475, with the July ’25 price now at R3,643 per ton. The harvesting pace in America is currently the fastest in the last ten years, with 47% already harvested. This has caused CBOT prices to trend downward since October 10. The white and yellow maize prices have been moving within the same range for about 22 weeks, with volatility decreasing over the past few weeks. I think there is less uncertainty regarding what is available in the market now. We believe spot prices may maintain their upward momentum, but it also seems that prices could stabilize as we move toward the end of the year. For new season maize, which we usually refer to with the July ’25 contract, we will mostly need to look at the weather forecast and how our local season will progress and where and how much rain we will receive. Slightly better forecasts could put pressure on new season prices.

The soybean spot price has risen week on week to R8,550, while the May ’25 price remains unchanged at R7,705 per ton. The sunflower spot price has increased week on week to R10,200, with the May ’25 price at R9,294 per ton. The US soybean harvest is currently being conducted at the second-fastest pace in the last 10 years, placing it, along with better weather forecasts for Brazil over the next 10 days, now impacting CBOT prices. However, I think most of the pressure is currently coming from the supply side, with global stock levels at their highest in the past 25 years. Locally, we see soybean prices still trading in a slight downward trend, and we expect this trend to continue for now. On the other hand, sunflowers have broken through the R10,000 mark, which we attribute to the drought in Russia and Ukraine, but also due to the ongoing war in the Black Sea region. The question is whether soybeans and the rest of the oil complex will begin to decline due to the extremely high stock levels.

The wheat spot price has risen week on week to R6,020, with the December price at R6,060 per ton. Winter wheat plantings in the US are 2% behind the 5-year average and stand at 64%. The CBOT price follows other prices downward but is much more volatile. Russia announced last Friday that they will set a floor price of $250 per ton to try to limit wheat exports and reduce their inflation rate of 9%. Our expectation is that this could push international prices upward, thereby providing slight support to local prices. However, we expect that local factors such as the quality of wheat, the harvesting pace, and the quantity of wheat domestically will be the larger drivers for prices, and we may trade sideways rather than upward.

The sorghum import parity price landed in Durban fell last week to R5,199 per ton, while the producer import parity price for shelled Argentinian peanuts rose to R26,627 per ton, and the cotton import parity price traded at R9,910 per ton.