Global grain markets have fallen after several large corn orders from the US to China were canceled last week.
The Foreign Agricultural Service, part of the US Department of Agriculture, announced April 27 that private exporters reported the cancellation of sales of 233,000 metric tons of corn for shipment to China in the 2022-23 marketing year.
This followed the cancellation of 327,000 t on April 24.
See also: What is the outlook for the UK grain and oilseed markets?
Chicago corn futures fell $11.91/t (£10.75/t) last week to close April 28 at $230.31/t (£184.68/t) for the July contract.
A large supply of cheap Brazilian corn entering the market is also creating competition for US corn.
US corn exports hit a 15-week low last week at 400,000 metric tons, according to trader Frontier.
Peter Collier, Senior Advisor at CRM AgriCommodities, said the cancellations have taken some of the wind out of the sails of corn markets.
Mr Collier said: “Corn has slipped, dropping wheat even further. Quite a bit of corn market support had been built around emerging strength in US export pace, and most of it had been fueled by Chinese buying.”
knock-on effect
So far this year, US corn export commitments to China have risen to 8 million tonnes from about 4 million tonnes last year, and losing some of that has had a knock-on effect on wheat markets, which have also declined in Europe and the UK like the US.
UK feed wheat futures opened Tuesday 2nd May at £198.15/t, down £7.35/t from the previous week.
Grain trader ADM Agriculture said UK wheat prices have followed the weaker global trend and have come under pressure from a continued lack of demand both domestically and export as cheap Brazilian corn imports to the EU undermine wheat values.
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