IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i4p181-d1622497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Climate’s Currency: How ENSO Events Shape Maize Pricing Structures Between the United States and South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mariëtte Geyser

    (School of Economic Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2530, South Africa)

  • Anmar Pretorius

    (School of Economic Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2530, South Africa)

Abstract

Climate change manifests itself in rising temperatures across the continent and affects the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) by changing sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation. This affects precipitation and temperature patterns, with South Africa normally experiencing drier conditions during El Niño events. These weather anomalies influence crop yields and food prices. Spatial price transmission indicates the extent to which prices of agricultural goods are linked across different geographical areas and how quickly price signals from one area are passed on to another. Although numerous studies explore spatial price transmission between various countries, there is a gap in the literature on price transmission between the US and South African maize markets during ENSO events. Therefore, we investigate how ENSO-related events impacted maize price transmission between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 1997 to 2024. The empirical analysis starts with a correlation analysis, followed by tests for cointegration and error correction models. The results confirm the dominating impact of US maize prices on South African prices, but also how this relationship changes based on the nature of the ENSO event. There is some indication of lower levels of integration and higher levels of price diversion during El Niño periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariëtte Geyser & Anmar Pretorius, 2025. "Climate’s Currency: How ENSO Events Shape Maize Pricing Structures Between the United States and South Africa," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:4:p:181-:d:1622497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/4/181/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/4/181/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Massimo Peri, 2017. "Climate variability and the volatility of global maize and soybean prices," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(4), pages 673-683, August.
    2. David Ubilava, 2018. "The Role of El Niño Southern Oscillation in Commodity Price Movement and Predictability," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(1), pages 239-263.
    3. Ayesha Sayed & Christo Auret, 2020. "Volatility transmission in the South African white maize futures market," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 71-88, March.
    4. Olivia Muza, 2017. "El Nino-Southern Oscillation Influences on Food Security," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(5), pages 268-268, September.
    5. Ubilava, David, 2017. "The ENSO Effect and Asymmetries in Wheat Price Dynamics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 490-502.
    6. Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel & Barry K. Goodwin, 2021. "Price Transmission in Agricultural Markets," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 65-84, October.
    7. Ting-Ting Sun & Tong Wu & Hsu-Ling Chang & Cristina Tanasescu, 2023. "Global agricultural commodity market responses to extreme weather," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 2186913-218, December.
    8. Babatunde O. Abidoye & Marlene Labuschagne, 2014. "The transmission of world maize price to South African maize market: a threshold cointegration approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(4), pages 501-512, July.
    9. Philly Ramoroka & Chiedza L. Muchopa, 2022. "Inter-commodity Price Transmission between Maize and Wheat in South Africa," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 12(5), pages 57-63, September.
    10. Rotem Zelingher & David Makowski & Thierry Brunelle, 2020. "Forecasting impacts of Agricultural Production on Global Maize Price [Prévision des impacts de la production agricole sur les prix mondiaux du maïs]," CIRED Working Papers hal-02945775, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matteo Bonato & Oğuzhan Çepni & Rangan Gupta & Christian Pierdzioch, 2023. "El Niño, La Niña, and forecastability of the realized variance of agricultural commodity prices: Evidence from a machine learning approach," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 785-801, July.
    2. Wei, Yu & Zhang, Jiahao & Chen, Yongfei & Wang, Yizhi, 2022. "The impacts of El Niño-southern oscillation on renewable energy stock markets: Evidence from quantile perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    3. Ventosa-Santaulària, Daniel & Tapia, Edwin & Pérez-Peña, Anna Karina, 2024. "Inflation dynamics under different weather regimes: Evidence from Mexico," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    4. Salisu, Afees A. & Gupta, Rangan & Nel, Jacobus & Bouri, Elie, 2022. "The (Asymmetric) effect of El Niño and La Niña on gold and silver prices in a GVAR model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Zhang, Jiahao & Zhang, Yifeng & Wei, Yu & Wang, Zhuo, 2024. "Normal and extreme impact and connectedness between fossil energy futures markets and uncertainties: Does El Niño-Southern Oscillation matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 188-215.
    6. Geraldo Costa Junior & Andrea Calef, 2023. "Precipitation events and local corn prices: evidence from Brazil," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2023-04, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    7. Nicolas Legrand, 2023. "War in Ukraine: The rational “wait‐and‐see” mode of global food markets," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 626-644, June.
    8. Salisu, Afees A. & Adekunle, Wasiu & Alimi, Wasiu A. & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2019. "Predicting exchange rate with commodity prices: New evidence from Westerlund and Narayan (2015) estimator with structural breaks and asymmetries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 33-56.
    9. Andrea Bastianin & Alessandro Lanza & Matteo Manera, 2018. "Economic impacts of El Niño southern oscillation: evidence from the Colombian coffee market," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 623-633, September.
    10. Carlotta Penone & Samuele Trestini, 2022. "Testing for asymmetric cointegration of Italian agricultural commodities prices: Evidence from the futures-spot market relationship," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(2), pages 50-58.
    11. Svanidze, Miranda & Götz, Linde & Djuric, Ivan & Glauben, Thomas, 2019. "Food security and the functioning of wheat markets in Eurasia: a comparative price transmission analysis for the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(3), pages 733-752.
    12. Al-Maadid, Alanoud & Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Spagnolo, Fabio & Spagnolo, Nicola, 2017. "Spillovers between food and energy prices and structural breaks," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 1-18.
    13. Arellano-Gonzalez, Jesus & Juarez-Torres, Miriam & Zazueta-Borboa, Francisco, 2021. "Temperature shocks and local price changes of agricultural products: panel data evidence from Mexico," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 314060, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Hong, Yanran & Yu, Jize & Su, Yuquan & Wang, Lu, 2023. "Southern oscillation: Great value of its trends for forecasting crude oil spot price volatility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 358-368.
    15. Quaye, Leonard-Allen A. & Stewart, Shamar L. & Holt, Matthew T., 2024. "Exploring the Dynamics of Commodity Prices and Weather Anomalies using a STAR model," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343706, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Yasuhiro Iwanaga & Ryuta Sakemoto, 2023. "Commodity momentum decomposition," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(2), pages 198-216, February.
    17. Zhu, Xuehong & Zhang, Shishi & Ding, Qian, 2024. "Does extreme climate change drive the connectedness among global gold markets? Evidence from TVP-VAR and causality-in-quantiles techniques," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    18. Sabine Liebenehm & Ingmar Schumacher & Eric Strobl, 2024. "Rainfall shocks and risk aversion: Evidence from Southeast Asia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(1), pages 145-176, January.
    19. Bingzi Jin & Xiaojie Xu, 2025. "Machine learning price index forecasts of flat steel products," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 38(1), pages 97-117, March.
    20. Elie Bouri & Rangan Gupta & Luca Rossini, 2022. "The Role of the Monthly ENSO in Forecasting the Daily Baltic Dry Index," Working Papers 202229, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:4:p:181-:d:1622497. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.