Today (Feb. 17), the market for grains in China is shown as follows:

Domestic corn prices mostly are stable with fluctuations today. The price prevails at 1,930-2,080 yuan/tonne among deep-processing enterprises in Shandong and partial price adjusts by 10-60 yuan/tonne from last Friday. At Jinzhou port, Liaoning, some traders offer the purchasing price at 1,880-1,885 yuan/tonne flat from yesterday (moisture 14.5% and test weight 700-720 g/L). At Bayuquan port, the purchasing price of new corn of 2019 is 1,870-1,880 yuan/tonne (test weight 690-700 g/L). At Shekou port, Guangdong, the second-class corn price declines to 2,000-2,010 yuan/tonne down by 20 yuan/tonne from last Friday, and some corn could be traded at 1,990 yuan/tonne.

Some enterprises are entrusted by relevant state departments with outgoing of policy-oriented grain. Besides, China’s Ministry of Agriculture, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Transport have issued an emergency notice on resolving the current difficulties and accelerating the resumption of work and production in aquaculture on Saturday. First, to speed up the resumption of work and production in feed enterprises and livestock slaughtering and processing enterprises. Second, to ensure the smooth transportation of materials and products. In Article 2, it was clearly pointed out that feed products, corn, soybean meal and other feedstuffs should be covered into the emergency transportation for necessities, so as to open up the transport corridor for materials needed by breeding industry to the countryside and products into the city and factory as soon as possible. With the policy orienting, logistics are recovered. Additionally, farmers are more willing to sell corn with the temperature rising all over the country, so corn supply in market is likely to steadily increase. On the other hand, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has affected the meats consumption. Also, the recovery of hog production capacity also has been delayed, and demand for meats falls. Thus, the overall demand for corn also slows down. Besides, feed enterprises often purchase on a hand-to-mouth basis. Therefore, the fundamentals are weak in phases, and the price falls by 20 yuan/tonne in some regions today. In the near term, corn price is predicted to go down.

Domestic sorghum price keeps steady with a partial rise from that before the festival today. In spite of some prices available in the market, traders have some difficulty making shipment under the influence the novel coronavirus pneumonia, as logistics still get interrupted due to the traffic controls. Domestic sorghum price is predicted to stay stable amid concerns over the virus.

Imported sorghum prices are available only at some ports as most businesses have not resumed work and logistics also get interrupted under the influence of the coronavirus. The market is worried about lower sorghum demand as the virus outbreak could have an impact on the economic growth in China. Imported sorghum price is predicted to step on a downtrend amid concerns over the virus.

Imported barley prices stay stable today. But most large enterprises have not resumed work, and some traders have made pre-sales but had difficulty making shipment as logistics also get interrupted under the influence of the coronavirus. Imported barley price is predicted to have a weak trend amid concerns over the virus.