"We haven't had widepsread rain recently and it is hot. It is not critical now but we do need rain in the next week," said Andre Ferreira, economist at Nampo. Ferreira told Reuters that outlying parts of the Northwest province, those West of the farming town of Delareyville, were dry.

He added, however, that most of the grain in South Africa's chief white maize-producing province was still young and healthy. He said farmers in the eastern Mpumalanga province, where plants are more advanced and at the critical tasselling stage, had reported a light drizzle on Tuesday.

"The probable major point of interest locally is phe hot, dry weather, which although too early to cause problems, may development into something worrying," grain traders RMD Financial Services said in its New crop white maize futures crept up on Tuesday with July contracts adding 40cents to 608.40 rand and September collecting four rand to 631 rand. yellow maize contracts were mixed.