Prices of maize in spot markets were unchanged as demand from key bulk buyers remained subdued amid largely steady arrivals, traders said.

Maize was sold at 1,650 rupees per 100 kg, largely steady from Wednesday, they said. Arrivals were unchanged at 3,000 bags (1 bag = 100 kg).

Arrivals have been rising over the past few days since market participants anticipate a further fall in prices with a likely larger maize crop in the rabi season, traders said. The fresh rabi crop is likely to hit markets in April, traders said.

Corn was down by 6 to 9 1/2 cents on Thursday trading. Crude oil is down nearly $2 per barrel as the US halted nearly all airline flights to Europe, forcing the stock market down to the 5% circuit breaker. USDA’s weekly

Export Sales report showed a 12 week high for corn bookings, with 1.471 MT of corn sold on the week ending 03/05. That was 91.3% higher wk/wk and was 295.5% above the same week last year’s sales.

Traders had anticipated 600k-800k MT of corn bookings. New crop sales from the same week totaled 128,100 MT, analysts were expecting up to 100,000 MT. Accumulated commitments through the MY total 1.107 bbu, which is 31.3% lower than week 27 last MY.

Shipments from the week were 851,715 MT to put accumulated exports at 15.232 MMT, that lags last year’s pace by 43.4%. DDGs demand in China was reported at 1,550 yuan to 1,750 yuan ($217 to $245) per ton on 03/11.