Grain Highlights 18.01.2021

In the first half of January, exports of palm oil from Malaysia fell to 96,200 tons from 139,900 tons a month earlier.

- In December, US soybean crush reached a record of 4.98 million tons (+5% compared to December 2019). In 2020/21, US soybean crush is projected at 59.9 million tons and exports are estimated at a record of 60.7 million tons.

- According to the Chinese customs service, corn imports in the country reached a record of 11.3 million tons in 2020, which is 135.7% more than in 2019. The import of wheat amounted to 8.38 million tons (+140.2%) and barley imports were 8.08 million tons (+36.3%).

- Turkey has postponed a tender for the purchase of 400,000 tons of milled wheat due to severe weather conditions. The tender has been postponed for 22.01.2021.

- Given the changes in Russian restrictions on wheat exports, SovEcon is ready to increase its forecast for crop exports in 2020/21 to 37 - 38 million tons from the previous 36.3 million tons. The change is due to the government's intentions to leave an export tax on wheat exports in 2021/22. This will force farmers to sell larger quantities of wheat this year.

- In the week of January 11-17, the export of grain from the Russian port of Novorossiysk was 300,570 tons, which is 29.1% more than the previous week and 2.5 times more than the previous year. 300,570 tons of wheat were exported (+48.2% and +250%).

- During the week of January 4-10, 23,500 tons of sunseed oil were exported from Russian ports, which is 50% less than the previous week.

- In the first half of 2020/21, exports of wheat flour from Ukraine decreased to 79,500 tons, which is 56% less than the previous year. The largest buyers were:

  • UAE- 15,300 tons
  • Moldova- 14,700 tons
  • Palestine- 12,400 tons

- In the first 4 months of the current season, exports of sunseed oil from Ukraine reached 2.2 million tons, which is 12% more than the previous year. The current increase is a temporary phenomenon and is expected to decline in the coming months due to the weaker sunseed production.

- In the first half of January, exports of palm oil from Malaysia fell to 96,200 tons from 139,900 tons a month earlier. This caused the price of oil to decrease last week by 11%.

- Bangladesh has received only one offer to sell 50,000 tons of milling wheat at a high price of 352.98 USD/ton C&F.