Country News
Argentina: Argentine farmers are expected to plant less corn this year due to low global prices for the grain, according to WPI. As a reference point, corn prices two years ago were around $195/MT, $150/MT at this time last year and are currently resting around $138/MT, at which level farmers would be unable to cover their production costs.
China: China is increasing its checks on U.S. sorghum and barley in order to check for pesticide residues and heavy metals, reports Reuters. This comes as Chinese feed mills have increasingly turned to U.S. sorghum as a cheap substitute for domestic corn. It is believed that inspections will impact bookings made following the ruling, but sorghum shipments that have already been booked or are in transit may not face any additional scrutiny. Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. has cut its forecast for sorghum imports to 1.6 MMT in 2014/15, which is down from its earlier prediction of 3.9 MMT. China is the world’s largest importer of U.S. sorghum.
EU: Europe’s rain-damaged wheat harvest is expected to benefit Asian grain importers as the crop is now considered suitable only as animal feed, according to Reuters. Importers in South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines are expected to favor European wheat over corn imports. Feed wheat production in Europe and the Black Sea is expected to increase to 75 MMT, which is about 13 MMT more than what was brought in last year. It is expected that European feed millers will add 3 MMT of wheat to their rations in order to reduce their dependence on corn imports. USDA recently reduced its forecast for EU corn imports to 11 MMT through September 2015, which is down from the 13 MMT it predicted in July as well as the 15.5 MMT that were shipped in the 2013/14 season.
India: Monsoon rains will be following the pattern set by the past two weeks and continue to be weak into next week, according to Retuers. The outlook for India’s corn crop is not likely to change despite the weak rains.