Asia actively buying grains from Australia and Canada

 

 

Canada sold wheat cargoes to Thailand and Indonesia for shipment in February-March, while Australian traders have signed deals to export around 100,000 tonnes of wheat to Southeast Asia in the last two weeks.

 

Canada sold some 45,000 tonnes of high-protein wheat to Thailand and 25,000 tonnes to Indonesia at around US$300-US$310 a tonne, including cost and freight, regional traders said.

 

The price of high-protein Canadian wheat is attractive, said a Singapore-based trader who sells US and Australian wheat to Asia. The trader said Canadian wheat is taking over the US share in Asia because US wheat is very expensive.

 

Australian exporters have also been aggressively marketing wheat, selling some 100,000 tonnes of Australian prime wheat (APW) and Australian standard wheat (ASW) to Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, although trade has slowed in the past few days.

 

APW was sold between US$250 and US$260 a tonne C&F, while ASW was exported at US$245-US$255 a tonne.

 

But a trader with an international trading company said the Australian wheat business has slowed down in the past few days as many people are still on holiday and global prices have been volatile.

 

US wheat, which is facing stiff competition in the international market, is quoted higher than Australian and Canadian wheat. This week, US dark northern spring wheat was quoted at US$320 a tonne, C&F into Asia and soft white wheat was selling around US$255 a tonne.

 

APW was quoted at US$260-US$265 a tonne and ASW around US$250 a tonne.

 

Corn trade was slow at the beginning of the year on higher prices being quoted by sellers in India and South America. Indian corn has gone up by US$10 to US$15 in the last two to three weeks because of the stronger rupee and Brazilian corn is also expensive, a corn trader based in Singapore said.

 

Traders said Indian corn in containers was quoted close to US$240 a tonne C&F, up from US$225 a tonne in December and Brazilian corn was selling at US$250-US$255 a tonne, compared with US$240 a tonne last month.