In both cases no country in the region has a surplus for the current year. Exportable maize surpluses are also projected for Malawi but export plans are yet to be considered. The small maize surpluses of 120,000 tonnes and 48,000 tonnes currently projected for Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively may not be significant enough to justify consideration of formal exports at this stage until such time that the needs of the domestic markets are fully assessed. Import programmes still tentative at this stage Tentative regional maize import plans for the grain-deficit countries currently stand at 592,000 tonnes all of which could be covered by sourcing such maize imports from the SADC regional surplus of 1.33 million tonnes. Deliveries of commercially imported maize have been reported in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Mozambique.
All countries normally face structural deficits in wheat.
However, current import plans amount to only 735,000 tonnes of which 37,000 tonnes have already been received. A regional shortfall of 540,000 tonnes of rice is also projected which has to be covered through imports.