Today (Sep 4), the market for grains in China is shown as follows:

Corn:

Corn prices in China mainly stay stable with partial declines today. And the average price is 2,225 CNY/tonne nationwide, down by 5 CNY/tonne from yesterday. The price among deep-processing enterprises in Shandong prevails at 2,310-2,400 CNY/tonne, partly down by 8-30 CNY/tonne from yesterday. At Jinzhou port, Liaoning, the new corn with volume weight of 690-700 g/L (choicest and packed in cases) is priced at 2,215-2,220 CNY/tonne. At Guangdong port, Grade-II old corn price is cut to 2,290 CNY/tonne with a decline of 10 CNY/tonne from yesterday.

China increases the purchase of imported corn. It is said that China has granted the import quota for 10 mln tonnes of corn to a state-owned enterprise in addition to tariff quota. And China has brought in 7.70 mln tonnes of U.S. corn in the year of 2020/21. China’s persistent purchase could be indicated in the USDA report despite no official confirmation. Meanwhile, imported corn has been arriving at ports successively in recent days, and the early-ripening new corn has entered market in North China. Hence, it will likely increase corn supply after September. But market buyers are not active in purchasing, seeing emerging pressure in fundamentals. On the other hand, Northeast corn area is under impact of typhoon, and rainfall and gale have caused lodging in some corn fields. Moreover, another typhoon named Haishen will land in next week and the wind scale is expected to be level 16. Participants can pay more attention to the effect of weather on crop which could be the new hotspot.

Sorghum:

Domestic sorghum prices are stable today, of which dried sorghum prices prevail at around 2,900-3,000 CNY/tonne. Domestic sorghum supplies are reducing and margins are growing, so that farmers and traders both tend to prop up prices. However, imported sorghum of lower cost will be arriving at domestic ports. Moreover, it becomes more difficult to stock up sorghum under warmer weather conditions, coupled with limited demand from distilleries, so that domestic sorghum market is weighed down. Overall, domestic sorghum prices are predicted to stay stale with a strengthening trend.

Imported sorghum prices are stable in China today with the average price at 2,258 CNY/tonne. Market participants are concerned that escalating U.S.-China tensions could affect future imports of sorghum. Moreover, the cost of importing sorghum is also strengthening due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, imported sorghum stocks at Guangdong ports still total 306,000 tonnes as of Aug 28. And an expected rise in sorghum arrivals will probably weigh down US sorghum prices in China. Participants can focus on the development of US-China relations.

Barley:

Imported barley prices are stable today with the average at 1,984 CNY/tonne. As of Aug 28th, imported barley stocks totaled 253,000 tonnes at Guangdong ports. There will be vessels arriving gradually in coming months, while downstream buyers have weak demand now, which will be negative to the market. In addition, barley shipments from Argentina, Canada and France have been flowing toward China as a conflict between China and Australia reshapes global trade pattern. On September 1, China’s General Administration of Customs said barley shipments from Australia’s largest grain exporter would be halted so as to protect agricultural production and bio-safety in China, as pests were found on multiple occasions, a move will further disrupt barley trade between these two nations. With the market closed, Australian farmers will receive about $50/tonne less than what China would typically pay. Overall, imported barley prices are predicted to stay stable with a weakening trend in China.

(USD $1=CNY ¥6.84)