JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s 2016 maize output fell 22 percent following an El Nino-induced drought that impacted crop outputs, a government agency said on Friday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said in its final 2016 figures, maize totalled 7.779 million tonnes compared with 9.955 million tonnes harvested in the previous year.
The crop comprise of 3.41 million tonnes of the food staple white maize and 4.37 million tonnes of yellow maize.
An El Nino weather pattern brought record high temperatures and the lowest rainfall levels in 2015 since records began in 1904.
White maize prices reached record peaks of around 5,300 rand scaled in January 2016, helping to fuel inflation.
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by James Macharia)
Reuters