SA maize farmers are reaping an estimated seven million tonne harvest, which is good quality so far, while Zimbabwe and Zambia are fretting about poor maize grades, officials said on Wednesday. ”Harvesting has started in the eastern parts by farmers who planted early and so far the grade is really good. The maize in the western parts is still too wet and needs about another 14 days,” said Bully Botma, the chairman of Grain South Africa. ”The weather is beautiful for maize right now with frost in the mornings and sunny days. The crop is coming along nicely,” Botma said. The latest crop estimate released on Monday by the National Crop Estimates Committee showed a slight increase from last month’s estimate to 6.967m tonnes, a 27 000 tonne improvement. Last season the harvest was 10.1m tonnes. On the maize futures market prices flicked up on Tuesday and Wednesday, pulling back from year lows, but a trader said only an estimated 40% of the crop had been committed to forward contracts because farmers were hoping for higher prices late in the year. – Reuters