The spot price of white maize smashed through R3 000 a ton this week, up 51% from its mid-2017 harvest low. Similarly, yellow maize has touched R2 800 a ton, up from R1 850 in 2017.
The world's top ten crops - barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soya bean, sugarcane and wheat - supply a combined 83% of all calories produced on cropland.