Maize prices were reported steady to weak in most of the markets due to weak demand of bulk buyers

Prices of the coarse grain are seen falling in the coming days as the late-sown kharif crop have started hitting the markets. Demand is also seen falling as most bulk buyers are likely to wait for the fresh rabi crop, which will hit markets in late-March.

Corn futures were down 1 1/4 to 3 1/2 cents in the front months after Thursday trades ended. The USDA released the weekly Export Sales report this morning, showing corn bookings of 968,815 MT for the week ending 02/06. That broke the 3-week trend of over 1 MMT in sales, and was 3.6% lower than the same week last year.

Shipments for the week ending 02/06 were 782,762 MT which was a 30.7% increase wk/wk but were 14.4% lower than the same week last year. Unshipped sales are now 11.869 MMT, which with MYTD exports put total commitments for the MY at 23.759 MMT. This time last year commitments totaled 37.311 MMT.

So far throughout February, the average Dec 2020 corn close is $3.92 1/4. Last year’s base crop insurance price was $4, which was the average close for Dec 2019 futures during Feb. AgroConsult raised their second crop corn estimate for Brazil by 0.7 MMT to 74.7 MMT, with the overall crop down 0.6 to 101 MMT.

The Rosario Grain Exchange estimated the 19/20 corn crop for Argentina at 50 MMT, which is even with the USDA’s Feb forecast.