South Africa is on course to bring in the largest grain and oilseed harvest in its history, according to the government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC), with the 2025/26 season maize crop now forecast at roughly 17.3 million tonnes, more than 2 percent above the previous season's harvest. Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), has described the season as pointing to the country's highest grain and oilseed harvest on record, with upward revisions seen across maize, sunflower seed and sorghum.
The bumper crop has raised hopes of easing pressure on food and livestock feed prices, since maize is a key ingredient in staple products such as maize meal and samp that lower-income households rely on heavily. However, agricultural economists including Sihlobo have flagged that persistent late-season rains slowed the pace of harvesting considerably, with deliveries to commercial silos running well behind the previous year's pace even as the overall crop outlook remains strong. The Free State, Mpumalanga and North West provinces are expected to account for roughly 82 percent of the 2026 maize crop.
