El Niño Drives Southern African Millers to Seek Brazil Corn.

Zimbabwe is considering importing corn from Brazil due to the impact of the El Niño weather pattern on crops in the country and its neighboring nations. The dry spell caused by El Niño has led to a 20% decrease in South Africa's corn crop and a 60% decrease in Zimbabwe's. Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have declared states of national disaster due to the crop failures. Normally, these countries are self-sufficient or rely on imports from South Africa, but this may be difficult this year as South Africa's production is lower. The imports from Brazil are expected to be more expensive and will take longer to deliver, potentially adding to inflation pressures in Zimbabwe. However, this move is seen as timely given the tight regional maize supplies expected in the coming months. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Bloomberg.com is the property of Bloomberg, L.P. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)