February 16, 2009
US corn prices slightly up as exports jump to one-year high
On news that weekly corn exports may hit one-year high, US corn prices rose 1 percent on Friday (February 13) as demand from Asia picked up on expectations of a rise in ocean freight rates.
The US Department of Agriculture said that more than 1.5 million tonnes of US corn had been sold overseas over the past week, up 33 percent from the previous week and 73 percent higher than the prior four-week average.
The sales pace was 45 percent behind year ago but demand has picked up since mid-January, with over a million tonnes sold for four straight weeks.
According to Han Sung-min, a trader at KEB Futures, overseas buyers prefer to buy US grains as many believe prices are quite low and market may strongly pick up on reduced supply from drought-hit Argentina.
However, grains have been showing limited gains as economies remain jittery due to global financial crisis, he said.
Traders said a bookkeeping error by a Japanese grain firm had most likely inflated the US corn data but the USDA said a grain firm made a major adjustment in how it reported sales and the export figures were not affected by any of the adjustments.
March corn futures rose 1.0 percent, or 3-¾ cents, to US$3.70 a bushel after finishing 2-¼ cents lower on Thursday. March soy contract gained 0.7 percent, or 7 cents, to US$9.75-½ a bushel after closing 9-½ cents a day earlier.
Both corn and soy have dropped 0.7 percent this week.
Asia continues its robust demand for US grains with a Taiwan group seeking up to 40,000 tonnes of US corn.
Argentine farms groups announced last week that they had postponed a planned strike plan and appealed to President Cristina Fernandez to hold talks aimed at ending the standoff to ease fears of supply disruption.
On the other hand, March wheat rose 0.4 percent to US$5.41 a bushel after a forecast of a smaller grain production this year. Wheat has lost 2.8 percent this week.
Smaller planted areas and bad weather are likely to trigger a fall in output of wheat and other cereals in major producing countries this year, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday.
