S African govt in talks to mitigate ban on corn use for biofuels

(ADPnews) - Oct 11, 2010 - South Africa's government is negotiating with the Competition Commission to ease rules banning farmers from selling their excess corn production for biofuels, Business Report wrote today, citing government official.

"I support the idea that food crops should not be used for biofuels. However, we are now faced with a situation where we have a surplus of maize. It now becomes necessary for us as a country to reposition our decision", Tina Joemat-Pettersson, South Africa's minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said at the annual Agri SA congress this weekend.

According to Joemat-Pettersson, South African agriculture industry has a surplus of 3 million tonnes of corn, which resulted in a decline in grain prices and job anxiety in the corn industry.

The minister said that the government had also placed a request with the competition regulator to allow farmers to pool their corn output for export.

The department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also requires a change of South Africa's biofuels strategy as "it needs to be modified to the current reality", Joemat-Pettersson said, adding that the issue would shortly be submitted to the Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters.

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