/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/iStock-623194968.jpg "Zebras feast as corn price crash starves SA farmers.")
PRICES PLUMMET: SOUTH AFRICA’S MAZE OF MISERY EXPOSED
Your grocery bill is about to get cheaper, but at a STAGGERING hidden cost. South Africa’s maize future prices have just CRASHED to four-year lows, with white maize down a jaw-dropping 35% in a single year. This isn’t just a market blip—it’s a full-blown economic earthquake poised to DESTROY farmers while offering fleeting relief to consumers.
The evidence is in the data. White maize now fetches just over R3,400 a tonne, a low not seen since late 2021. Yellow maize has been slammed down 18% to under R3,350. Charts on Barchart confirm the collapse. This plunge is being driven by a dangerous trifecta: a super-charged rand, a GLOBAL grain glut, and La Niña rains that created a “bumper crop” of over 16 million tons.
This is a story of winners and SILENT losers. Officials and economists smile, claiming this will “douse” food inflation. Wandile Sihlobo of the Agricultural Business Chamber points to “ample supply” as the cause. Daneel Rossouw at Nedbank blames record crops in the US and Brazil. Their calm analysis hides the real crisis.
Who REALLY wins? Big banks, politicians, and city consumers get to cheer lower prices. The livestock sector gets cheaper feed. But the farmers who FEED the nation are being SACRIFICED. Tobias Doyer, CEO of Grain SA, reveals the brutal truth: farm incomes have been cut by nearly HALF. These producers face financial ruin while grocery chains reap the profits.
The Reserve Bank watches this trend “like a hawk,” eager to lower interest rates. They use falling grain prices to control their inflation numbers, ignoring the human wreckage in the fields. Cattle farmers might see some relief from feed costs, but maize farmers are witnessing their life’s work evaporate.
The system is silently shifting wealth from the heartland to the boardroom. One sector is being bled dry to keep the economic statistics looking calm. The next time you buy cheaper maize meal, ask yourself who paid the real price.
This is how a food-producing nation begins to starve itself.
Edited for Kayitsi.com
Author: Kayitsi.com
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/iStock-623194968.jpg&description=Zebras+feast+as+corn+price+crash+starves+SA+farmers.){kind=link}