Country News
Argentina: The corn yield dropped but so did the corn price due to skyrocketing freight rates caused by low draft levels on the Parana River. (AgriCensus)
Bangladesh: Farmers will switch to producing the more profitable crop of corn and output will reach 5.1 MMT in 2020/21. However, COVID-19 is expected to reduce livestock production and thus cause caorn imports to decline by 1 MMT. (FAS/GAIN)
Brazil: AgRural cut the predicted second crop corn by 2 percent, citing dry weather. (Reuters)
China: The country has targeted sorghum for imports from the U.S. (AgriCensus)
EU: Ukraine exhausted its 2020/21 corn TRQ into the EU just ahead of the imposition of a €5.27/MT safeguard being imposed on all imports. Conditions remain too dry in some areas and the April corn crop forecast was cut by -0.1 percent from the March estimate. Meanwhile, both the winter and spring barley crops were forecast to be 0.2 percent larger. (JRC MARS; AgriCensus)
Kenya: Maize production in 2020/21 will be 3 MMT, down 400 KMT due to COVID-19 control measures imposed by the government. However, finding corn imports will be difficult due to the ban on GMO maize. (FAS/GAIN)
South Africa: The government’s Crop Estimates Committee predicts 15.221 MMT of maize production in 2020, a 35 percent increase over the drought shortened crop of last year at 11.275 MMT. (Reuters)
South Korea: A buying binge took the country’s corn imports over 2 MMT with three purchases amounting to 194 KMT. European traders say the Korean Feed Association has tendered for 68 KMT from optional origins. (Reuters; AgriCensus)
Ukraine: Citing the deputy economy minister, APK-Inform says the government will not limit the volume of corn exports. Ukraine exported 26.2 MMT of corn and 4.5 MMT of barley in 2019/20 but APK-Inform has lowered its forecast for 202/21 corn production by 900 KMT to 35.1 MMT. (Reuters)
Vietnam: Corn imports are expected to increase in May after adverse impacts of ASF have passed. (AgriCensus)
World: The International Grains Council reduced its forecast for 2020/21 global corn production by 1 MMT to 1,158 MMT. (Reuters)