USDA increases Ukrainian export forecast by 0.5 mln tonnes of wheat, 1 mln tonnes of corn

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased Ukrainian export forecast for the marketing year 2023/2024 by 0.5 million tonnes to 12.5 million tonnes of wheat and by 1 million tonnes to 21 million tonnes of corn, Ukrainian media said, citing the USDA information.

The ministry said in the December report it had upgraded the wheat export outlook by reducing the transition balance estimate as of the end of the year by the same 0.5 million tonnes to 2.58 million tonnes.

As for corn, the USDA increased the harvest forecast also by 1 million tonnes to 30.5 million tonnes.

Additionally, U.S. analysts upgraded the corn transition balance estimate by 0.39 million tonnes as of the beginning of this marketing year (to 2.8 million tonnes) and its end (to 6.82 million tonnes).

On the whole, the updated global wheat harvest outlook for 2023/2024 was upgraded by 1.03 million tonnes to 783.01 million tonnes by a positive review for Australia and Canada, which compensates for a downgraded forecast for Brazil.

The global wheat consumption estimate was raised by 1.82 million tonnes to 794.66 million, while the global export estimate was increased by 2.18 million tonnes: besides Ukraine, the estimates have been upgraded for the United States, Australia and Canada.

In December, the corn harvest outlook was upgraded by 1.28 million tonnes to 1,222.07 million tonnes, while the corn export outlook increased by 1.84 million tonnes to 201.46 million tonnes.