Prices of maize across key spot markets fell today due to weak demand from poultry feed manufacturers amid rising arrivals in key producing states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

Bulk demand has been weak despite the arrivals of the fresh crop as the new supply is of poor quality.

Demand for the new crop is weak due to quality concerns. Most of the fresh crop arriving in mandis had high moisture content of 25-30%, as against the acceptable limit of 13-14%.

The futures contracts of maize in the NCDEXX, however, rose as market players anticipate a sharp decline in supply owing to poor quality of the fresh crop. The most-active November contract on NCDEX ended 1.5% higher at 1,875 rupees per 100 kg.

Corn Futures fell to a two-month low after Wednesday’s round of trading, dropping by as much as 3 3/4 cents in the front months. The CN rail strike contributes uncertainty about grain movement in parts of the upper Midwest.

South Korea purchased 65,000 MT of corn privately from Glencore, with optional origin and a December shipment. Thursday’s Export Sales report is expected to show 400,000-900,000 MT of corn bookings in the week of 11/14.

The latest update from the EIA suggested more of the same bullish news from last week. For the week ending 11/15 the daily production per day was up 3,000 barrels over last week, at 1.033 million barrels.

The bullish take-away was that for the second consecutive week production was higher and stocks were lower, insinuating demand increases. The stocks were 471,000 barrels lower over the last week to 20.51 million barrels, at the lowest point since 2016