Country News
China: Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. Ltd has reported that China purchased 1.2 MMT of corn from the U.S. in October, according to Reuters. Chinese buyers have increased their buying of U.S. corn as the commodity is being offered at the lowest prices in three years due to a bumper harvest.
Japan: The Ministry of Agriculture has stated that it again received no bids from exporters of feed wheat and barley in this week’s buy and sell auction, according to Reuters. Japan had sought to purchase 180,000 MT of feed wheat and 200,000 MT of feed barley, and will again be seeking the same amounts in next week’s tender to be held on October 23.
South Africa: Yellow corn for December delivery increased by 0.1 percent to $224.18/MT, reports Bloomberg News.
Ukraine: Louis Dreyfus Commodities has entered into a joint venture with Brooklyn Kiev LLC to develop and manage a multi-commodity terminal in Odessa, reports Reuters. The new teriminal will ship corn, wheat and barley to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The facility is slated to be opened in August 2014 and will have a grain storage capacity of around 240,000 MT.
Further on Ukraine: Reuters reports that Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk has stated that the country’s October grain imports has been raised to 3 MMT from an earlier estimate ot 2.2-2.3 MMT. He indicated that exports in November will also likely total 3 MMT. October shipments consisted of a ratio of roughly 50 percent corn to wheat, while November shipments will be dominated by corn.
United Kingdom: The UK may see its largest barley harvest since 1997, according to Reuters. The Department for Environemt, Food, and Rural Affairs has adjusted its 2013 barley forecast and indicated that this year’s harvest may total 7.1 MMT, which is a 29 percent increase over last year.