Today (May 15), the market for grains in China is shown as follows:
Corn:
Domestic corn prices keep steady mainly and adjust slightly in several regions today. The price among deep-processing enterprises in Shandong prevails at 2,180-2,230 CNY/tonne with a decline of 8-10 CNY/tonne from yesterday. At Jinzhou port, Liaoning, the purchasing price of corn is flat from yesterday at 2,010 CNY/tonne (moisture 15% and volume weight 700 g/L) and 2,035-2,040 CNY/tonne (moisture 15% and volume weight 720 g/L), respectively. At Shekou port, Guangdong, the second-class corn is priced at 2,110-2,120 CNY/tonne, which is unchanged from yesterday.
The morning arrivals of corn in Shandong continue decreasing and down to less than 1,000 trucks today affected by rainy weather. In addition, the remainder of corn has bottomed out, and some traders still bull the after-market and have a wait-and-see mood with the policy auction being not announced. And corn price in North China mainly stops declining and turns to be stable today. Nevertheless, the positivity of downstream enterprises in recovering poultry population is affected by recent losses in poultry breeding, and market expects a decline in demand for poultry in May and June, so feed enterprises are also not active in taking purchase. It is said that China hands out more grain import quotas to increase purchases. So far in 2020, China has allocated low-tariff import quotas for over 6 mln tonnes of corn and 1.5 mln tonnes last month. And China may issue corn quotas totaling 7.2 mln tonnes. This is the first time that China allocates the low-tariff import quotas for corn in full. Additionally, imported corn and grain are arriving at Southern ports in succession, which may restrict the market trend. Therefore, corn market is likely to stay stable and slightly pare gains in recent days.
Sorghum:
Domestic sorghum prices are stable today, of which dried sorghum prices prevail at around 2,700-2,780 CNY/tonne. Both farmers and traders have a strong sentiment for higher prices, as sorghum supplies are reducing and margins are growing. But imported sorghum is in huge volume and at relatively low prices, and warmer weather also makes it difficult to keep goods in stock, which will to some extent weigh on domestic sorghum market. Overall, domestic sorghum prices are predicted to maintain its stable trend.
Imported sorghum prices are flat today, of which US raw sorghum is quoted at 2,090 CNY/tonne. There is no goods available at both Tianjin port and Shanghai port, and only some small supply at Guangdong ports, which support US sorghum prices to maintain a strengthening trend.
Barley:
Imported barley prices are stable today. Hog and sow stocks continue rising moderately, adding to the demand for feed, and traders tend to stall sales to prop up prices, which are bullish to the market. Overall, imported barley price is predicted to stay stable. China is considering imposing anti-dumping duties of up to 73.6% and countervailing duties of up to 6.9% for barley imported from Australia, according to reports by foreign media. But China has not officially respond to this news.
(USD $1=CNY ￥7.09)
