May 20, 2011

US grain export sales surge

US corn export sales reached a 7-week high in the previous week whereas wheat sales hit a 2-month high as the lowest prices since mid-March gained demand.

South Korea, the third largest market for US corn, bought its largest weekly volume of the feed grain since April 2010 while top buyer Japan purchased its biggest volume in a month, according to USDA data released on Thursday (May 19).

Corn futures <Cc1> prices fell to a near 2-month low last week amid broad-based selling across commodities markets, although prices subsequently rebounded.

Net corn export sales in the week ended May 12 totalled 843,200 tonnes for shipment by the end of the 2010/11 marketing year on August 31 and 308,500 tonnes for shipment in 2011/12, USDA said.

The combined marketing year sales, which more than doubled from the prior week's 457,500-tonne tally, topped analyst expectations of 800,000-1,000,000 tonnes.

Wheat export sales last week jumped 45% to 798,900 tonnes, 672,200 tonnes of that for shipment in the next marketing year which begins June 1, USDA data showed.

Top buyers in the week included Iraq, Nigeria and Yemen.

Analysts polled ahead of the report had expected 450,000-750,000 tonnes.