Today (Sep 11), the market for grains in China is shown as follows:

Corn:

Corn prices in China mainly stay stable with slight rises in individual regions today. And the average price is 2,240 CNY/tonne nationwide, flat from yesterday. The price among deep-processing enterprises in Shandong prevails at 2,290-2,460 CNY/tonne, adjusting by 6-10 CNY/tonne yesterday. At Jinzhou port, Liaoning, the new corn with volume weight of 690-700 g/L (choicest and packed in cases, moisture within 14.5%) is priced at 2,230 CNY/tonne, unchanged from yesterday. At Bayuquan port, Liaoning, the price of old corn with volume weight of 690 g/L (moisture 13.5%) is 2,210 CNY/tonne, unchanged with yesterday. At Guangdong port, Grade-II old corn price is offered at 2,360 CNY/tonne with no change from yesterday.

Corn-growing areas in Northeast China are whacked by Typhoon Maysak, seeing varying degrees of lodging in Heilongjiang and Jilin. And it is serious in some fields, so corn production is doomed to go down. Corn futures on Dalian’s Commodity Exchange sharply climb up today, closing 2,388 CNY/tonne at midday with a rise of 32 CNY/tonne. This has shored up market confidence. At the moment, traders with inventory in hand in Northeast area bull the market and are even reluctant to sell them, so the price edges up. And traders at Southern ports also intend to raise price. And China increases the purchase of imported corn. 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 the pressure from supply in phase still exists. Even if corn market moves higher in a short term, the upward space will be limited. Therefore, corn market will mainly stay stable at high levels until the worries about production ease.

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 231,000 tonnes as of Sept 4. 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 Sept 4th, imported barley stocks totaled 402,000 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 A$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)