Country News
Brazil: Aided by drier weather, harvesting of the second crop of corn (safrinha) reached 49 percent of the total area, a 13 percent increase in just one week. Harvesting is 63 percent behind last year’s rate and 55 percent below the five-year average. (AgRural)
China: The corn auction resulted in 1.1 MMT of sales for the third straight session. The Heilongjiang auction sold 24.4 percent of the corn offered and averaged CNY 1,418/MT ($208.07/MT). (AgriCensus)
Morocco: USDA pegs its barley production at 2.5 MMT but other reports indicate that goods rains will enable the production of 3 MMT of barley. Morocco produced as little as 620 KMT of barley in 2016/17. (WPI)
South Africa: The government’s Crops Estimate Committee sticks with its estimate of 13.2 MMT of maize production (6.9 MMT of white and 6.3 MMT of yellow) but FAS says it will be 11.4 MMT of total production (5.65 MMT of white and 6.3 MMT of yellow). Corn exports will be 2.5 MMT in 2017/18 but just 1 MMT in 2018/19. (FAS GAIN)
South Korea: The first tender for 2019 import requirements hit $213.40/MT. (AgriCensus)
Turkey: The barley production estimate has been dropped from 7.4 MMT to 6.4 MMT and corn production will be 5.3 MMT. Corn imports will be 200 KMT lower this year than last and are pegged at 2.3MMT. (FAS GAIN)
Ukraine: Corn hit a six-week high, rising to $185.25/MT, and FOB Handysize quotes are at $192-193/MT. (S&P Global Platts)