They are buying up our USA corn!
China made another large buy of U.S. corn to start the week, and market analysts say food security concerns are driving the country’s increased appetite for commodities. USDA confirmed a flash sale Monday that totaled 1.020 million metric tons of corn by China. 680,000 tons of the purchase are for old crop, with the remaining 340,000 for delivery in the 2022/2023 marketing year.
The purchase was on the heels of China’s largest corn purchase since May of 2021 last week, a purchase that totaled 1.084 million tons. Brian Grete, editor of Pro Farmer, thinks it’s a trend that will continue.
“China’s in a hoarding mode right now,” says Grete. “Food security is one of their top priorities, if not their top priority, and you just took a chunk out with Ukraine. Ukraine had become a major supplier of corn to China. And I think that we will see China in for more corn.”
Corn prices climbed again this week, with CBOT corn hitting over $7.83 per bushel, the highest since 2012.
Even with prices increasing, Grete doesn’t expect China’s interest to just stop at corn, as other commodities impacted by the crisis in Ukraine could also spur more buying.