The report‚ released on Tuesday‚ said the reduced harvest could trigger food price increases and adversely affect recent food security gains.
"The fall is mostly due to the impact of erratic weather conditions‚ including the late start of seasonal rains in November/December‚ followed by heavy rains that caused flooding in parts of some countries‚ and then a long dry spell in the southern areas of the sub-region during February and early March‚" the FAO said.
The poor outlook for 2015 is expected to result in increased imports in Southern Africa with forecasts for aggregate maize imports in the 2015/16 marketing year (May/April) indicating an increase to about 1.8 million tonnes.
The bulk of the growth in imports is expected from South Africa‚ mainly consisting of yellow maize used in the feed industry.
At the close of market‚ the white maize contract due for delivery in July 2015 was up R15 to R2‚590 a ton and the September 2015 contract had risen R20 to R2‚632 a ton. The December 2015 contract added R18.60 to R2‚678.60 a ton.
The yellow maize contract due for delivery in July 2015 was down by R1 to R2‚350 a ton‚ the September 2015 contract was up by R4 to R2‚380 a ton and the December 2015 yellow maize contract climbed R5 to R2‚417 a ton.
The wheat contract due for delivery in July 2015 slumped R9 to R3‚805 a ton‚ the September 2015 contract slipped by R3 to R3‚820 a ton. The December 2015 wheat contract lost R14 to R3‚770 a ton.
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