Country News
Argentina: The Argentine government has approved an additional 3 MMT of corn exports, which brings the total exportable amount to 20.5 MMT, according to Reuters. USDA estimates that Argentina will harvest 26.5 MMT of corn in 2012/13, while the Argentine government estimates that totals for the year will be 32.1 MMT. Around 8 MMT of corn is required for domestic consumption. As of this week, the corn crop is 99 percent harvested.
Australia: Despite persistent dry weather, Australia is set to harvest more barley than originally predicted, reports Bloomberg News. Barley production is now expected to total 7.7 MMT, which is up from a June estimate of 7.4 MMT.
China: Chinese mills are increasingly turning to U.S.-sourced sorghum, according to Reuters. Chinese millers have already used up this year’s allocation of 2.88 MMT of corn import quotas, and may import more than 1 MMT of sorghum to make up the shortfall in 2013/14. Sorghum, unlike corn, is not subject to quota restrictions. Because of this, U.S. sorghum prices are roughly $20/MT higher than equivalent corn prices. The U.S. is expected to reap a bumper crop of 10 MMT of sorghum, of which 30-40 percent will be slated for export.
Taiwan: Taiwan has signed a letter of intent to purchase 5 MMT of U.S. corn over the next two years and 500,000 MT of DDGS, according to Retuers. The agreement was signed by the Taiwan Feed Industry on behalf of the Taiwanese Agricultural Goodwill Mission.
Ukraine: The Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry has stated that grain exports have risen 11 percent over last year to total some 4.6 MMT, reports Reuters. Of this total, some 1.5 MMT was composed of barley and 566,000 MT was corn. 965,000 MT of grain have been exported so far for the month of September, and it is estimated that the monthly total will be 2.5-2.6 MMT.