MAIZE  #Maize Prices\

In times of abundant harvests, farmers and agribusinesses must be allowed to export and benefit from the global market. In times of droughts or floods, trade must still be allowed. Indeed, there may be short-term economic pain for consumers through higher prices in deficit years when imports are needed, but this induces farmers to plant more in the coming seasons. At times, governments ban imports to protect local farmers when they have ample domestic supplies, which are deemed sufficient to meet consumer requirements. However, that also limits the consumer’s choice and artificially increases the domestic price by restricting more competitively priced imports. Zimbabwe’s maize supply recovers I am highlighting these policy tradeoffs due to recent news from Zimbabwe. A report by Reuters, a news organisation, suggests that the Zimbabwean government has reinstated a ban on maize imports. The government believes that in the interim, there are sufficient supplies for the local market and wants to ensure maximum price realization for the domestic producers before allowing imports.

Driven by rising demand for maize oil in Africa, the market is expected to start an upward consumption trend over the next decade. The performance of the market is forecast to increase slightly, with an anticipated CAGR of +1.1% for the period from 2024 to 2035, which is projected to bring the market volume to 336K tons by the end of 2035. In value terms, the market is forecast to increase with an anticipated CAGR of +4.6% for the period from 2024 to 2035, which is projected to bring the market value to $699M (in nominal wholesale prices) by the end of 2035.

Zimbabwe has recently reinstated a maize import ban (end of August 2025), citing a bumper harvest which has made the country largely self‑sufficient for its milling/corn demand.