Country News
Argentina: New season corn plantings are only at 35 percent as farmers intentionally delay, ensuring pollination does not occur in January. Corn exports are running ahead of the previous two years. (Reuters)
Brazil: High prices are currently suppressing Brazil’s corn exports. The government agency Conab predicts the first corn crop for 2018/19 at between 26.28 and 26.81 MMT with total production exceeding 90 MMT, a 10 MMT increase over 2017/18. Over 96 percent of Mato Grosso will be free for corn planting in March. (Reuters; AgriCensus)
China: The National Statistics Bureau updated its 2018 Yearbook to reflect greater corn production. The agriculture ministry’s estimate for the 2018/19 corn crop was increased from 213 MMT to 215 MMT, though this is still much smaller than the statistic bureau’s prediction. However, the increased supply was more than offset by increased demand. Meanwhile, peas from Canada are being purchased to replace soybeans in hog rations. Peas have less protein but more energy than soy, although not as much energy as corn. (Reuters; AgriCensus)
EU: Weekly corn imports fell, and the French corn harvest neared its end after a dry October facilitated field work. (AgriCensus)
Indonesia: The government suspended its corn import ban due to a smaller domestic crop and the Bureau of Logistics (Bulog) agreed to import 100 KMT of feed corn by late December. (AgriCensus)
Jordan: The feed barley market has begun to cool as Jordan paid $3/MT less in its latest purchase. (AgriCensus)
Mexico: Corn imports were up 6 percent year-on-year based on the January to September period. (El Financiero)
Saudi Arabia: State buying agency SAGO purchased more than 1 MMT of feed barley this week, paying an average $266.83/MT. SAGO has already announced a 1 MMT tender for the new year. Barley imports for MY2018/19 are estimated at 8.5 MMT, a 12 percent increase from USDA’s official estimate of 7.6 MMT. The larger volume of imports is based on higher demand for feed and to raise stock levels. (Reuters)
South Korea: Feed maker Nonghyup (NOFI) issued a tender to purchase 16 KMT of corn gluten feed, among other ingredients. (Reuters)
Ukraine: The corn harvest slowed to 77 percent complete due to rain delays. Yields are still reported to be quite high and since losing its dominance in the Saudi barley market to Russia, the Ukraine government is still seeking to make sales to China. (USDA/FAS; Reuters)