Dryness sees South Africa’s winter wheat production decline 4.47%

Dry weather in South Africa is likely to see wheat production in the country fall by 4.47% to 1.58 million mt, according to data published Tuesday by the Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries Department.

With planting undertaken on 491,600 hectares, the new estimate is a fall of around 70,000 mt from the previous estimate, which was 1.65 million mt.

The total area planted with wheat has also declined versus 2016, when it reached 508,365 ha.

Rapeseed is also expected to see a similar fall of 4.17% to 1.95 million mt, according to the data, down from just over 2 million mt.

Planting area is broadly unchanged year-on-year, 666,980 ha in 2017 versus 665,135 ha on 2016.