Unusually heavy late summer rains have killed more than 30 people in South Africa but have brought welcome relief to grain farmers after drought conditions in some parts of the maize belt in January and February.

"The grain farmers welcome the rain. The crops planted late will benefit from the rain. There is relatively very little damage so far," said Jannie de Villiers, the chief executive of Grain SA, which represents grain farmers.

Some farmers in eastern Mpumalanga province had reported that secondary roads had been damaged and it might be difficult to get the crops to silos as a result, De Villiers added.

South Africa is likely to harvest 12.403 million tonnes of maize in 2014 after reaping 11.69 million tonnes last year, the government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) says.

Maize is the staple crop in South Africa and a poor harvest can push overall inflation much higher.

Maize futures for the most-traded July contract hit record highs around 2,500 rand a tonne in January but have since fallen 16 percent to 2,080 rand a tonne in response to the rains.

Source - http://www.trust.org/