The present section provides a rapid summary of recent winter wheat harvests in the southern hemisphere, as well a first quantitative assessment of maize in South-Africa, a summer crop in the region, where prevailing drought conditions (see section 5.2 and the South-Africa page in section 3.2) seriously threaten food security in several countries.

In Argentina, the updated CropWatch wheat output estimate currently stands at 10.7 million tons, 11% below the 2014-2015 production. Both harvested area and yield decreased compared with last year. Annex B lists production according to provinces: Buenos Aires and "Mesopotamia" (Entre Rios) both did well (+11% and +24%, respectively) while a production drop occurred in Santa Fe (-14%), Cordoba (-34%) and the rest of the country.

In neigbouring Brazil, wheat production is up 4.5% over last year, to reach 7 million tons. The largest increase, by state, was achieved in Santa Caterina (+20%), a relatively minor producer, and in Rio Grande do Sul (+13%).&n