SAFEX trading calendar

Dates checked Tuesday 25 August 2026. Past contract months and past releases are removed automatically — nothing on this page is left to go stale.

Most calendars give you the expiry date and stop. That is the least useful of the dates, because by the time a contract expires the decisions that mattered were already made — usually weeks earlier, on a date nobody had written down.

This page lists all of them, and explains which one is the deadline that actually applies to you. It is a reference, not advice; dates are set by the exchange and can shift, so confirm anything you are about to trade on with the desk at info@derivative.co.za.

What each date means

Main hedging months

White maize, yellow maize, wheat, sunflower seed and soybeans. These five months — March, May, July, September and December — carry the bulk of the open interest and are listed a year ahead, with July maize listed two years ahead.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Constant month contracts

Every other calendar month. These are introduced 90 business days before the month begins and then trade exactly like the five hedging months — useful when your exposure falls in a month the main cycle does not cover. February and April maize are the exception, listed a year ahead, as is the April oilseed expiry.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Cash-settled contracts

The rand-settled contracts referencing international prices — corn, soybeans, soybean meal and oil, and the Kansas and red wheat contracts. There is no delivery to plan for, so the only dates that matter are when the option expires and when trading closes.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Introduction dates can move — the exchange lists contracts early on request — so a contract may be tradable before the scheduled date.

The marketing seasons

Each grain runs on its own season, and a contract month belongs to the season it falls in. This is what determines which crop year a hedge is actually covering.

The data releases that move these markets

Two publishers set the rhythm of the South African grain year. Both move this market, and neither is an exchange date.

Crop Estimates Committee — next release Wednesday 26 August 2026

The CEC sets the supply side of the balance sheet: area planted, then a sequence of production forecasts, then the final crop. The early forecasts move the market hardest because they carry the most uncertainty. Releases are published at 15:30.

• 26 Aug 2026Next release
• 29 Sep 2026Scheduled release
• 27 Oct 2026Scheduled release
• 26 Nov 2026Scheduled release

SAGIS

SAGIS publishes the hard numbers on how the crop is actually moving — producer deliveries, imports and exports weekly, and a fuller supply and demand picture monthly. The weekly producer deliveries figure is the single most-watched number on the local calendar. Weekly releases run on a roughly weekly cycle with some weeks skipped; all publications land after 12:00.

• 25 Aug 2026Monthly whole grain data
• 4 Sep 2026Monthly product data
• 25 Sep 2026Monthly whole grain data
• 2 Oct 2026Monthly product data
• 26 Oct 2026Monthly whole grain data

The desk tracks every one of these and works them into the weekly note. The insights cover the fresh SAGIS week each Friday, with the monthly and CEC releases picked up in the weeks they land.

Common questions

Which date should I actually diarise?

If you are hedging price and never want grain: first notice day. If you are holding options as cover: option expiry, which lands a month before you might expect. Last trading day is the one everybody writes down and the one that matters least, because by then your choices have narrowed to almost nothing.

What happens if I do nothing and hold a short past last trading day?

You deliver. A short position still open at the close on the last trading day must be settled by physical delivery of a silo receipt by the last delivery day. This is not a penalty — it is what the contract is — but it is a poor way to discover that.

Can I hedge a month that is not one of the five?

Yes. Constant month contracts cover every other calendar month and trade the same way once listed. If your exposure falls in, say, August or November, you do not have to force it into the September or December contract and carry the basis risk of the mismatch.