Indian corn exports improve amid better quality

Corn exports from India have picked up in the past two weeks as stocks lose some of their excessive moisture caused by flood damage.

Traders have sold 50,000 tonnes of Indian corn this month to Vietnam and Malaysia for shipment in January and February. Market interest in Indian corn is returning, said a Singapore-based trader.

India, which annually sells around two to three million tonnes of corn to Southeast Asia, had recently received a poor response from buyers after floods in the autumn damaged crops in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, that together account for one-third of production.

The floods, which were described by officials as the worst in a century, followed severe drought in northern regions after the worst summer monsoon rains since 1972. India's summer-sown corn crop is expected to slide 9.3% to 12.61 million tonnes as a result, according to government estimates.

Indian traders sold the corn at around US$240-US$245 a tonne, including cost and freight, lower than US$250-US$255 being quoted for South American corn and US$250 a tonne offered for Pakistani cargoes.

Sales should improve further in about a month when more excess moisture dries up, said a trader who sells Indian and South American corn into Asia.

Traders said corn prices in the Asian cash market are likely to drop following a more than 10% drop in benchmark CBOT prices this week following estimates of record production in the US.

There is not much impact now but buying interest should increase as global prices have slipped, said the trader. Malaysia is looking to buy some corn from Brazil and other destination markets will also get active, he said.