Corn purchase prices declining in Ukraine even despite USDA's lowered harvest forecast - GrainTrade

MOSCOW. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Purchase prices for corn in Ukraine's ports decreased by $2-$4 per tonne to $200-$205 per tonne, or 7,500-7,600 hryvni per tonne, last week, even though the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its December report lowered the estimate of this year's corn harvest by 4.5 million tonnes to 27 million tonnes.

The purchase prices for corn have been declining after port elevators stopped accepting corn because of power shortages and a lack of available containers due to the untimely arrival of vessels, Ukrainian media said on Wednesday, citing the website of the GrainTrade electronic grain exchange.

Grain traders have enough corn even from farmers' limited offers, which is why they are not raising purchase prices, especially as world prices also tend to decline, GrainTrade said.

Eighty vessels are queuing to enter the Ukrainian ports, GrainTrade said, adding that in order to maintain the stable operations of export terminals, Joint Coordination Center inspectors need to check at least ten vessels per day.

"The market has not yet reacted to the lowering of the corn harvest for Ukraine and to the fact that 35% of crops remain unharvested due to adverse weather. According to USDA data, corn in Ukraine had been harvested from only 40% of the sown area by December 12, whereas Ukraine's Ministry of Agrarian Policy said that corn had been harvested from 66% of the sown area by December 9," it said.

As reported, in its December report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its forecast for Ukrainian corn exports in the 2022-2023 marketing year by 2 million tonnes to 17.5 million tonnes as compared to the November figures. At the same time, USDA lowered the estimate of the corn harvest by 4.5 million tonnes to 27 million tonnes. The estimate of internal corn consumption was also lowered by 3 million tonnes to 6.5 million tonnes.

Ukraine exported 19.66 million tonnes of grain between the start of the 2022-2023 marketing year, which began in July 2022 and runs through June 2023, and December 14, including 10.76 million tonnes of corn (54.7% of all Ukrainian agricultural exports), 7.29 million tonnes of wheat (37%), and 1.53 million tonnes of barley (7.8%).