April 1, 2011

China-linked sale boosts US corn exports to seven-month high

US corn exports rocketed last week to a 7-1/2-month high, with a huge sale to an undisclosed buyer, believed to be China, accounting for nearly 70% of the total sales, USDA reported Thursday (Mar 31).

Sales of US wheat fell to a 2-1/2 month low while soy exports were nearly unchanged from the previous week.

Corn sales, combined old- and new-crop, totalled 2.23 million tonnes, beating trader expectations and the highest since the week ending Aug. 12, 2010.

Last Friday, USDA announced the sixth-largest single-day corn sale ever - of 1.25 million tonnes - to an unspecified buyer. China had been a rumoured buyer of US corn for weeks and traders saw the sale as essentially a confirmation.

Japan, typically the largest importer of US corn, was the second-largest buyer last week behind the unknown destination, with a purchase of 304,800 tonnes of old-crop supplies, the USDA data showed.

China is the largest importer of soy in the world and bought 181,300 tonnes of old-crop US supplies last week.

However, an unknown buyer cancelled a purchase of 132,000 tonnes of old-crop beans, pulling down combined marketing year sales to 257,800 tonnes, below trader expectations of 600,000 to 800,000 tonnes.

Wheat sales of combined old- and new-crop were 409,500 tonnes, the lowest since the first week of the year and below estimates of 500,000 to 700,000 tonnes.

The biggest wheat buyer last week was Nigeria, with a purchase of 186,300 tonnes, while top world wheat importer Egypt bought only 900 tonnes, according to USDA data.