South Africa from Drought to Bumper Crop

South Africa’s largest corn crop in over 35 years follows the 2015-16 El Niño-induced drought considered to be the country’s worst on record. Rainfall declined by about 50% to 30mm below average per month, and South Africa swung from importing just 3.1 million bushels of corn in 2014 to over 101 million bushels in 2016. This year’s record harvest was supported by precipitation well above normal levels in the growing season. The likely result: a high projected carryover into 2018 should send imports back below 4 million bushels.