South Africa Corn Crop Rises to Second Largest on Record on Rain

South African farmers probably produced the second-biggest corn crop on record in 2025 as the country experienced good rains earlier in the year.

Commercial growers likely harvested 16.4 million tons of white and yellow corn, the Crop Estimates Committee said in an email on Thursday. That’s 0.7% more than the October forecast and compares with 12.9 million tons a year earlier, which was the least since 2019.

The country, which is the continent’s biggest grower of the grains, uses the white variety to make a staple food known locally as pap, while the yellow type is typically fed to animals.

For the 2026 season, farmers intend to plant corn on 2.67 million hectares, which would be the biggest area since 2021 and 2.7% bigger than this year, the committee said last month.

The northeastern areas of the nation are expected to receive above-normal rainfall through mid-summer, the South African Weather Service said in a seasonal forecast in late September. The provinces producing the most corn are the Free State and Mpumalanga, which are located in this region.

“The rains will help ensure that the agricultural season begins on time and that we have excellent production conditions,” Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber, said in a newsletter last week.

Farmers intend to plant 1.18 million hectares of soy this season, the most on record, demonstrating the growing importance of the oilseed in South Africa’s agricultural mix. That would be 2.5% more than a year earlier.

The potential for larger crops could prove favorable in lowering the nation’s inflation outlook.

South Africa’s annual inflation rate was 3.6% in October, the highest since September last year.

Tags: corn, South Africa