Country News
Brazil: Bunge’s CEO says that dryness in Brazil will shave 5 to 10 MMT off of the current corn crop. USDA has forecast an 84 MMT corn crop in Brazil. (Reuters)
China: The government is expected to soon announce its new corn policy but the average corn price rose last week by $10 to $284.98/MT. The Ministry of Agriculture has said that China will export 1.7 MMT of corn in 2016 and 2.3 MMT next year, but some believe that 5 MMT is a plausible amount. Surplus corn stocks hit 200 MMT in April and USDA’s Fred Gale says they will continue to grow until peaking in 2017/18. (Reuters, China Daily, WPI)
South Africa: The Crop Estimates Committee lowered its forecast for maize production to 7.05 MMT from last month’s 7.07 MMT estimate, but the trade believes that 7.0 MMT is a more realistic number and that up to 3.8 MMT of maize will need to be imported. (Bloomberg)
Zambia: Millers are asking for government permission to export maize bran, which is in surplus supply and could be used by neighboring countries. (WPI)