European corn imports continue at pace: EC

It was business as usual in the week to January 31 as corn imports continued to race ahead, while soy imports and wheat exports continued to drag on previous years, data from the European Commission showed Thursday.

Corn

Corn imports have continued at pace as buyers in Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal continue to take advantage of low global corn prices.

While EU-wide imports at 387,095 mt for the week were unremarkable compared with the previous two weeks, they remained above the average weekly volume seen over the rest of the year.

Total imports for the marketing 2017/18 year are now 52% higher than at the same stage last year, having reached 9.76 million mt.

Corn imports from Brazil have raced ahead of other origins this year, almost five times higher than at the same time last year at 4.83 million mt. Imports from Ukraine are up 34.8% on last year at 3.39 million mt.

Spain remain the biggest importer at 3.84 million mt, having added another 177,097 mt in the week to January 31.

Wheat

Milling wheat exports continue to lag, with the gap between the 2017/18 and 2016/17 marketing years widening as licences were issued for 198,277 mt of sales.

The fourth smallest weekly total of the marketing year, export volumes are down 18.6% on last year at 12.18 million mt.

French sales again outstripped all other origins, with 138,602 mt taking total sales from July 1 to 4.17 million mt.

Algeria remains the largest destination for EU wheat, with 2.72 million mt of sales – down 8% on the same stage last year as sellers have competed with Argentinian exports.

Sales to Saudi Arabia come in at 1.84 million mt, 12% lower than at the same stage last year, while Egyptian sales at 893,842 mt are 9.5% lower year-on-year.

South Africa and Nigeria have provided some support, with both almost doubling their imports of EU-origin wheat to 757,939 mt and 545,459 mt respectively.

Soy

Soy imports came in at 204,329 mt in the week, taking the marketing year total to 7.19 million mt – 9% lower than at the same stage last year.

As with corn, feed manufacturers in the Netherlands and Spain consumed the bulk of the imports.

Spain bought 89,749 mt in the week, taking its total to 1.75 million mt, while the Netherlands bought 79,348 mt to take its total to 2.13 million mt.

Imports from the US have outstripped other origins with 2.8 million mt – 38.9% of the total – while Brazil sent 1.88 million mt to the EU, 26.2% of the total.