Market Perspectives – December 31, 2020

U.S. Export Statistics

Corn:  Net sales of 964,500 MT for 2020/2021 were up 48 percent from the previous week, but down 27 percent from the prior 4-week average.  Increases were primarily for unknown destinations (246,000 MT), Japan (117,400 MT, including 88,600 MT switched from unknown destination and decreases of 62,800 MT), Costa Rica (102,200 MT, including decreases of 300 MT), Chile (81,000 MT), and Morocco (60,900 MT, including decreases of 2,300 MT).

Exports of 1,339,600 MT–a marketing-year high–were up 60 percent from the previous week and 49 percent from the prior 4-week average.  The destinations were primarily to China (492,000 MT), Japan (273,400 MT), Mexico (226,900 MT), Colombia (76,100 MT), and Morocco (65,900 MT).

Optional Origin Sales:  For 2020/2021, options were exercised to export 160,000 MT to South Korea (65,000 MT), Taiwan (65,000 MT), and Ukraine (30,000 MT from other than the United States.  Decreases totaling 136,000 MT were reported for Vietnam (130,000 MT) and Japan (6,000 MT).  The current outstanding balance of 1,351,400 MT is for South Korea (838,000 MT), unknown destinations (224,000 MT), Taiwan (140,000 MT), China (65,000 MT), Japan (52,000 MT), and Ukraine (32,400 MT).

Late Reporting: For 2020/2021, exports totaling 29,900 MT were reported late for New Zealand.

Barley:  Total net sales of 100 MT for 2020/2021 were reported for Japan.  Exports of 1,400 MT were to Japan.

Sorghum:  Net sales of 44,300 MT for 2020/2021 were down 31 percent from the previous week and 76 percent from the prior 4-week average.  Increases were reported for China (44,300 MT, including decreases of 12,700 MT).  For 2021/2022, total net sales of 53,000 MT were for China.  Exports of 161,600 MT were up 24 percent from the previous week, but down 4 percent from the prior 4-week average.  The destination was China.