Country News
Algeria: Government grain buyer OAIC is seeking 50 KMT of barley after paying high prices ($252-255/MT) late last year. (AgriCensus)
Brazil: JBS ordered its first shipments of imported corn for the year into Santa Catarina. Domestic farmers are holding back supplies at the same time domestic freight costs present legal uncertainty. Safras lowered slightly its forecast for corn production to 93.305 MMT, a less than one-half percent drop. (Reuters; MercoPress)
Canada: Low demand from China and Saudi Arabia sent barley prices tumbling. Barley is also being drummed lower by cheap corn prices. (Reuters; FarmLead)
China: Feed demand will be hit as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reports that breeding sows have slumped 15 percent as ASF has spread to nearly all provinces. Demand was met by corn and barley from Uruguay where trade tensions are absent. Kazakhstan is also an approved source for feed. (Bloomberg; Reuters)
EU: Strategie Grains notes that European barley prices have been tracking Australian values and they lowered their EU export forecast from 5.8 MMT to 5.0 MMT due to lower priced competition from corn and feed wheat. At the same time, Strategie Grains increased their forecast for EU barley production to 62 MMT, up 11 percent from last season’s troubled crop. (FarmLead)
India: The government’s tender for domestically produced corn could reveal the appetite for imported corn. Drought and pests have ravaged the domestic summer crop, cutting production by perhaps 21 percent and sending prices 30 percent higher. (AgriCensus; Agriculture.com)
South Africa: Supply concerns have re-emerged due to insufficient corn production in Zimbabwe. South Africa has imported more maize. (AgriCensus)
South Korea: Brazil’s impending corn supply led to lower prices and the appeal of a swath of tenders. Nearly a million tons of feed were purchased. Feed maker Nonghyup Feed bought 60 KMT of feed wheat and had tendered for 66 KMT of corn. NOFI had passed on such purchases but bought 69 KMT of corn for $205.48/MT. KOCOPIA issued a tender for 55 KMT of corn and MFG bought 275 KMT. KFA paid $206.63/MT for 60 KMT of corn and FLC paid $205.48/MT for 65 KMT. (AgriCensus; Reuters)
Turkey: Lower domestic production of barley likely increases import needs. (AgriCensus)
Ukraine: Competition from CPT allowed FOB prices to ease as exporters sought to get ahead of Argentina entering the corn market. (AgriCensus)