South African corn and soybean futures fell as prices slipped in the U.S., the world’s biggest producer.
Yellow corn for July, the most active contract, declined 1.7 percent to 2,076 rand ($242) a metric ton by the close on the Johannesburg-based South African Futures Exchange. White corn for delivery in March retreated 1.2 percent to 2,176 rand. Soybeans for the same month dropped for a fifth day, matching the longest streak of declines since Sept. 28, decreasing 1.6 percent to 4,640 rand a ton.
Corn declined for a second day on the Chicago Board of Trade, losing 0.8 percent to $6.85 a bushel, the lowest level since July 3. Soybeans fell for a third day, heading for the lowest closing level since June 22.
“Chicago moved down strongly and pushed our prices lower,” Benjamin Swanepoel, a trader at Trademar Futures (Pty) Ltd., said by phone from Johannesburg. “The rand started declining today and helped to prevent even lower local prices.”
The rand lost 1 percent to 8.5755 per dollar by 1:25 p.m., making it the worst performer out of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. A weaker currency raises the cost of importing grain and may increase demand for locally produced varieties.
South Africa’s the continent’s largest producer of corn, also known as maize. Yellow corn is used as animal feed while white corn is a staple food.
