August 19, 2011

US corn, soy exports plunge to three-week lows

The export sales of US corn dropped last week to a three-week low, falling 30% against the previous week and missing trade anticipations, as per USDA data released Thursday (Aug 18).

Historically lofty corn prices and abundant supplies of cheaper alternative feed grains such as feed wheat restricted demand for US corn, resulting in the second lowest weekly export sales total in more than two months, traders said.

Old-crop corn sales totalled 243,500 tonnes in the week ended August 11, while new-crop sales for shipment after September 1 totalled 280,300 tonnes. The combined marketing year sales were below trade forecasts for 700,000 to 900,000 tonnes.

Top US corn importer Japan bought just 60,100 tonnes, that country's smallest weekly purchase volume since December 2009, according to USDA data.

Net export sales of US soy also hit a three-week low last week of 421,500 tonnes, down 28% from the previous week and below trade estimates for 550,000-850,000 tonnes.

China, the world's top soy importer, purchased 60,000 tonnes of old-crop soy and 129,500 tonnes new-crop, making it the week's top buyer.

US wheat export sales rose 46% to a two-month high of 548,800 tonnes last week, near the low end of a range of trade estimates for 550,000-650,000 tonnes.

Japan was the week's top US wheat buyer with 138,500 tonnes in purchases, followed by Nigeria with 63,400 tonnes and Mexico with 60,700 tonnes.