Country News
Algeria: Drought last year resulted in barley production only reaching 950 KMT. The FAS attaché expects production this year to reach 1.2 MMT with 772 KMT of imports to meet barley consumption at 1.95 KMT. (World Grain)
Argentina: The Rosario Grains Exchange lowered its forecast for corn production from 45 MMT to 42.5 MMT stating that rains have helped the crop but arrived late. (Refinitiv; AgriCensus)
Brazil: Conab lowered its official estimate for the 2022/23 corn crop by 1.319 MMT to a total of 123.7 MMT due to the delay in planting the safrinha crop. January corn exports hit an all-time high of 4.9 MMT and Conab raised the marketing year export forecast by 2 MMT to 47 MMT. (Reuters; AgriCensus)
China: An estimated 983,684 MT of corn was purchased from Brazil in January, surpassing traditional buyers like Japan, Iran and Spain. (Refinitiv)
Egypt: State grains buyer General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) bought 60 KMT of Ukrainian corn at $308/MT for delivery during the second half of February and early March. GASC is in discussion to buy additional corn from Serbia, Romania or Bulgaria. (Refinitiv)
South Korea: The Korea Feed Association (KFA) purchased 126 KMT of South America corn in a tender valued at $337.80/MT C&F. Major Feedmill Group bought 138 KMT of South American corn for $339.50/MT C&F plus a $1.20/MT surcharge for split delivery. (Refinitiv)
Vietnam: The value of hog margins has fallen 28.5 percent since last summer and growers have switched to feed wheat until South American corn availability increases and lowers feed costs. Producers hope prices will drop 3.9 percent, though others forecast a mere 1.9 percent decrease. (S&P Global)