The price for US yellow Gulf corn declined by 3.3% this week. The USDA crop progress report indicated that a larger than expected number of corn acres have been planted and that 94% of the corn crop has emerged.

A very marketable crop of grapefruit, with a size distribution peaking on counts 40 and 45 and a higher percentage of class 1 exports over last year, will end earlier this season, which may cause some markets to run short of fruit.

According to a 2019 report from the European Union titled Opportunities for South African emerging farmers in the European sustainable market, even with a 4% global market footprint, South Africa is still punching far below the growing avocado demand, which has seen a steep increase in international market prices.

Across the country the navel harvest has had a slow start and the industry is seeing bigger fruit (up to 60% of count 64 and larger) and a smaller crop. A poor start to the navel season could have a ripple effect on Valencias.

For the week the price of US Gulf yellow maize increased by only 0.05%. The reason for this increase in price being so slight is that the US corn market traded a bit lower on some days during the week.

The first major volumes of South African citrus are due to arrive on the US East Coast in the first week of July.