Today ( Oct. 12th), the market for grain in China is shown as follows:
Corn: Today domestic corn prices mostly stay stable, and some adjust to edge up. The procurement price in Shandong further processing companies prevails at 1,800-1,960 yuan/tonne, and some continues to gain 10-30 from yesterday; in Jinzhou port, Liaoning, the predominant purchasing price is unchanged at 1,760 yuan/tonne (volume weight 700 g/L) for 2017 dried corn, and 1,450 yuan/tonne for 2018 new corn of 30% moisture, and 1760-1775 yuan/tonne for 15% moisture (over 700 g/L); in Shekou port, Guangdong, price for second-class old corn is leveling off at 1,900-1,910 yuan/tonne. On one side, farmers and traders in North China improve their appetite for hoarding dried corn in the clear weather, which provides for corn drying and reserving. On the other side, processing companies in provinces surrounding have small amount of dried corn in stock, so they choose to raise purchase price for a higher stock, during which corn price in Shandong has totally gained 40-130 yuan/tonne. But corn supply pressure will probably increase when farmers start their intensive sales during the corn harvest season, while auctions of old corn are still going on. And on the demand side, corn feed consumption is hard to pick up as the hog breeding is crippled by the African swine fever. Hence, corn price at coastal ports has fallen slightly recently. Combined the growing Northern market and falling Northeastern market and coastal ports, corn market may adjust in narrow fluctuation. And later focus shall be on weather in main planted belts, new corn harvests and sales, as well as downstream demands.
Sorghum: Imported sorghum prices mostly remain steady today. (US sorghum: Both raw and dried sorghum remain unchanged at 2,180 yuan/tonne and 2,290 yuan/tonne separately in Tianjian, and the price for raw sorghum is also unchanged at 2,100 yuan/tonne, 2,130-2,150 yuan/tonne and 2,050 yuan/tonne correspondingly in Nantong, Shanghai and Guangdong. Australian sorghum: Tianjin raw sorghum 2,220 and dried sorghum 2,370, each down 40; Shanghai raw sorghum 2,300-2,400, unchanged. Domestic sorghum price also holds steady: price for dried sorghum with freight included remains unchanged at 2,300 and 2,200 in Changchun, Jilin and Daqing, Heilongjiang correspondingly; Qiqihar, Heilongjiang new and raw sorghum both at 1,700, and dried sorghum at 1,900 with freight included, unchanged; Hinggan League, Inner Mongolia raw sorghum 1,700-1,740 and dried sorghum 1,940-1,960 with freight included, unchanged).
Barley: Today, price for barley at port remains stable (Australian barley: remaining unchanged at 2,060 in Shandong, 2,050 in Nantong and 2,000 in Guangdong; French barley is unchanged at 1,970-1,980 and 1,880 in Nantong and Guangdong respectively). Currently, hog farmers keep selling out pig instead of replenishment amid strong concerns over the rampant ASF, which is cutting feed consumption and unfavorable to overall sales of grains at port. In addition, sorghum fails to grasp its cost performance for its higher price than corn by 130 yuan/tonne. And the market of sorghum and barley is further dented by weak corn price, so sorghum price falls at some ports.
Merely, importers are unwilling to purchase US sorghum due to the high import cost under ongoing trade war. On the other side, Australian sorghum cost is largely boosted by recent droughts. Under such circumstance, August has witnessed lowest import volume of sorghum at ports within this year, sharply dragging down the stock at main ports. Considering the difficulty to replenish low cost stocks, importers tend to hoard their stocks to force up prices. Therefore, no big fall will appear on the grain market in the short run.
(USD $1=CNY 6.90)
