Today (Sep 18), the market for grains in China is shown as follows:

Corn:

Corn prices in China mainly stay stable with slight adjustment today. And the average price is 2,266 CNY/tonne nationwide, up by 5 CNY/tonne from yesterday. The price among deep-processing enterprises in Shandong prevails at 2,350-2,460 CNY/tonne with a rise of 10 CNY/tonne in several regions yesterday. At Jinzhou port, Liaoning, the new corn with volume weight of 690-700 g/L (moisture within 14.5%, impurity within 1%, mildew within 2%) is priced at 2,250-2,260 CNY/tonne, flat from yesterday. At Guangdong port, Grade-II old corn price is raised to 2,460-2,480 CNY/tonne, up by 50 CNY/tonne compared to yesterday.

Corn-growing areas in Northeast China are whacked by Typhoon Maysak, seeing varying degrees of lodging in Heilongjiang and Jilin. The lodging is serious in some fields, and West Liaoning is under great impact of the dryness. And the quality of corn in some regions will suffer. Accordingly, corn output in Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang doomed is to go down, which will decrease by more than 10 mln tonnes in the marketing year of 2020/21, according to the statistics. At the moment, traders with inventory in hand in Northeast area still bull the market and intend to raise price. Corn futures on Dalian Commodity Exchange continue being pulled up, shoring up market confidence at Southern ports with a further increase of 10-50 CNY/tonne. Therefore, corn price in Northeast area and at ports will stay strong in the near term. Additionally, the early-ripening new corn has entered market in North China. Hence, it will likely increase corn supply after mid-September, and buyers can keep close eyes on it.

Sorghum:

Domestic sorghum prices are stable today, of which dried sorghum prices prevail at around 2,900-3,000 CNY/tonne. The supply of sorghum is decreasing at present and grain merchants have seen bigger margins, so that farmers and traders have strong sentiment in propping up prices. In addition, domestic sorghum will see lower production as new crops in northeastern regions have been hit by typhoons. However, imported sorghum of lower prices will be arriving at domestic ports, and distilleries have limited demand, which will undermine domestic sorghum market. Overall, domestic sorghum prices are predicted to stay stale with a strengthening trend.

Imported sorghum prices are stable in China today and the average price is at 2,298 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 269,000 tonnes as of Sept 11. 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 steady today and the average is at 1,979 CNY/tonne. As of Sept 11, imported barley stocks totaled 380,000 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, which is also undermining domestic barley market. Merely, China has halted barley imports from Australia’s largest grain exporter whose shipments were found with pests on multiple occasions. This further disrupt barley trade between these two nations. Overall, imported barley prices are predicted to stay stable in China.

(USD $1=CNY ¥6.76)