Country News
Argentina: Corn sowing for the 2022/23 crop cycle is underway but has lagged in pace with the national meteorological service warning of below normal rainfall for the last quarter of the calendar year due to La Nina. This is a critical moisture period for the crop. Further hurting the crop’s chances is a 28 percent drop in fertilizer usage. (Reuters; Refinitiv; AgriCensus)
Brazil: Corn exports in September were 6.7 MMT, up 137.8 percent from last year’s drought impacted crop. (AgriCensus)
China: China’s corn for feed demand will rise by 6 MMT in 2022/23 to a total of 216 MMT. Corn production will be 270 MMT, 4 MMT lower than USDA’s official forecast due to a smaller area and rain damage in the northeast. Corn imports will be 18 MMT, down 5 MMT from 2021/22. Beijing has banned the export of corn starch to stabilize prices. Typical export markets for China’s corn starch include the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. (FAS GAIN; Bloomberg)
EU: The European corn crop output for 2022/23 was cut again to 55.7 MMT. Over the past 12 months, drought has forced Hungary to change from a corn exporter to an importer and has brought in 1 MMT of maize, nearly a quarter of it from Ukraine. French farmers have harvested over half their maize as a smaller crop and dry weather enabled an earlier harvest. AGMP says the French maize crop will be 10 MMT, down 28 percent from a year earlier. (Refinitiv; FranceAgriMer)
Korea: The Korean Feed Association (KFA) purchased 60 KMT of corn in a private transaction. Some buyers are turning to cheaper feed wheat. Korean maize buyers are touring the U.S. during FH October. (Reuters; AgriCensus; Morning Ag Clips)
Mexico: The government will ban the export of 24 foods including white maize to battle domestic food price inflation. Meanwhile, import tariffs for these products will be suspended. (Bloomberg)
Tunisia: Around 100 KMT of barley was purchased by ODC for November-December shipment. (AgriCensus)
Turkey: Government agency TMO purchased 495 KMT of barley for delivery during October-December. (AgriCensus)
Ukraine: The agriculture ministry says 468 KMT of grain, mostly corn, was exported so far in October, versus 589 KMT in the same period of 2021. (Reuters)