Country News
Brazil: Ethanol imports have been exempted from paying the Mercosur tariff of 20 percent but with imports at three times last year’s level, there are calls to reimpose it. (Bloomberg; Ethanol Producer Magazine)
China: Corn prices are at an elevated level due to a tight domestic supply, according to COFCO’s Liu Yanliang. Corn futures are at a 3-month high, pushed up by rising summer demand for corn starch products, drought in the northeast, and availability of varying qualities of corn.
Meanwhile, Sinograin was to offer 4.3 MMT of stockpiled corn at auction (2.8 MMT of 2013 crop, 1.5 MMT of 2014 crop and 12.5 KMT from 2011/2012) on July 7; 1 MMT of 2013 corn was offered for sale on July 6 and the National Grain Trade Centre reports that of that amount, 48,939 tons (4.73 percent of the amount offered) were sold at 1,251 yuan ($183.92) per ton. (Bloomberg; Reuters)
Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation has hired the German firm Eugen Schmitt to build an ethanol production plant at the Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory. (AgraNet)
EU: European sugar and ethanol producers are demanding that Brussels grant no additional access for imports in the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations. The domestic industry complains that the Brazilian policy amounts to a subsidy to ethanol production. (Biofuels International)
India: Ethanol was previously affected by a central excise tax (12.5 percent) plus state level taxes that varied from 5-8 cents/liter. As of July 1, that has been consolidated into a single federal Goods and Services Tax of 18 percent, but traders see it having little impact. More impactful is the fact that ethanol supply fluctuates with the sugar supply and the National Policy on Biofuels, which targets an increase to 20 percent blends by the end of this year, restricts purchases to domestic production only. Consequently, the blend rate in 216 was 4.07 percent and will drop to 2.23 percent in 2017. (Platts)
Indonesia: Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman says that Malaysia and the Philippines have agreed to accept up to 3 MMT of corn. Indonesia’s production expanded 18.1 percent last year and will be up again this year with a resulting surplus. (BBN)
Kenya: Kenya’s private dealers will now be able to source corn from Zambia on a one-day turnaround import permit. With drought affecting 23 of 47 counties in Kenya, the government is seeking to import 100 KMT of maize. (Xinhua)