Posted on 09/29/2023 2:47:47 PM PDT by FarCenter
TOKYO -- U.S. corn prices have slipped to their lowest levels in almost three years as China ramps up imports from Brazil, cutting into demand for American exports ahead of an expected bumper crop.
Benchmark Chicago corn futures sank below $5 a bushel in late August and have remained down since. On Sept. 19, they dipped under $4.70 to the lowest since December 2020.
This comes amid a drop in purchases by China, the world's largest consumer of corn.
China's imports of U.S.-grown corn came to about 240,000 tonnes in August, down from nearly 1.5 million tonnes a year earlier, according to estimates from Refinitiv based on maritime shipping data. Meanwhile, its imports of Brazilian corn swelled from zero to around 580,000 tonnes. The gap widened in September to roughly 1.22 million tonnes from Brazil, versus about 70,000 tonnes from the U.S., as of Thursday.
The shift owes partly to a strong harvest that has made Brazil's corn more price-competitive. On top of this, "China's moves to diversify its sources of imported corn to improve food security have had an impact," said Ruan Wei of Japan's Norinchukin Research Institute.
China had relied almost entirely on American and Ukrainian corn, but this began to change in late 2022 as friction with the U.S. and Russia's war in Ukraine spurred China to steer away from both.
An analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a measure of market concentration, found that competition in China's import market increased 22% in the 2022-23 year compared with a year earlier amid an increase in purchases from Brazil.
The American share of China's corn market is following a similar decline seen in soybeans roughly a decade ago. Brazil's soybean production swelled in response to growing Chinese demand, and the South American nation overtook the U.S. to become China's leading supplier.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with this:
“ The record crop, combined with price declines in the international market, has resulted in a 30% decline in the price of corn in the Brazilian market…
Feed corn needs to be fed to livestock again-not made into ethanol that is bad for your vehicle’s engine...
The kind of corn you eat is locally grown out here-nice and fresh because what is in the local grocery store was just picked a couple of days ago, and no factory farms around. And you couldn’t pay me to eat any of the crap at Cracker Barrel-or any other chain or non-local restaurant-who knows where that food came from, how fresh, how many pesticides it has been sprayed with, is it non-GMO, etc-no thanks...
City Slickers are so UNINFORMED
More and more we will find ourselves ‘odd man out’ in the world marketplace. This is going to be a brutal and hurtful wakeup event.
We need to eat meat. During the Ice Age, that’s all there was available to us. Corn is for herbivores.
Tortillas are ok, heavily stuffed with strips of beef and chicken, and some chiles and onions.
Don’t forget layered with beans, a little cheese, a fried egg, and some salsa!!
Pretty much how I eat them. Sometimes with ham or bacon & egg. Green salsa. Better than with flour tortillas.
I haven’t eaten corn in seven yrs. Sugar. Unhealthy.
Corn isn’t food it’s animal feed.
The corn tortillas I made today is my counterargument.
your tortillas are made of white corn.
Its like every drunken bum in the bar gets to kick the U.S. in the scrotum...
Nope. My tortillas were made with a mix of white and yellow corn. White corn on its own is rather bland.
With Sloe Joe, The Hoe and their criminal enterprise running the show, I don’t doubt it!
Agree on the ethanol edict. A dumbass move by a lot of people who should have known better!
BRICS flex, more to come.
Yep… way to go Joe
They are not really fighting us. Rather they are preparing for a post-USA world.
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