move such a record quantity of grain inland in light of the current poor railway and road infrastructure and logistics. 2015 Crop 2016 Crop* 2015 Imports 2016 Imports* Yellow maize (tonnes) 5 238 000 4 000 000 900 000 >2 500 000 White maize (tonnes) 4 702 000 1 800 000 80 000 >3 500 000** Total (tonnes) 9 940 000 5 800 000 980 000 >6 000 000 *Estimates for 2016 made by Unit in Livestock Economics, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State Expected implications of the 2015 drought on the red meat industry. **White maize imports depends on international availability Table 1: South Africa’s maize yield vs. maize imports, 20152016 (Source: Maré & Willemse, 2016) This may in turn cause bottlenecks in supplies from time to time, as well as food shortages. The continuous depreciation of the South African rand against major foreign currencies results in more expensive grain imports9. Maré and Willemse10 also state that the domestic shortages of maize led to fundamental increases in yellow as well as white maize prices: The price of white maize for delivery in July 2016 had increased to levels above R5 000/tonne, while the price of yellow maize had increased with more than 75% on a year-to-year basis. They further predict11 that the South African feedlot industry’s variable cost may increase sharply as a result of the steep increase of maize prices as well as the prices of other grains and oilseeds. Unable to sustain their losses, some of the smaller feedlots will be forced to withdraw from the market. The larger feedlots will probably also limit their operations in a bid to keep potential losses as low as possible. In turn, this will lead to a decrease in the weaned calves and lambs demand, which is an important factor to keep in mind for future weaner price expectations. Feedlots that 9 Maré, F. & Willemse, J. (2016). Expected implications of the 2015 drought on the red meat industry. Available at http://rpofs.co.za/images/nuus/2016/Expected-implications-of-the-2015-drought-on-thered-meat-industry.pdf. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid.