Mexico posts fifth-biggest US private export sale with 1.6m mt: USDA

Mexican corn importers have bought 1.6 million mt of corn with a further 110,744 mt bought for unknown destinations, according to a USDA private exporters notice published Thursday.

The sale is the fifth-biggest in history, and the biggest daily corn sale since late last year, when a December 10, 2018 notice revealed Mexico had bought 1.64 million mt.

In the latest purchase, just over a million mt is from the 2019/20 marketing year, with a further 525,780 mt slated for purchase from the 2020/21 marketing year.

If the unknown destinations also turn out to also be for Mexico, then the combined purchase rises to 1.1 million mt for the 2019/20 marketing year, and 1.7 million mt for the total – making it the fourth-biggest daily purchase in history, according to USDA data.

It comes as US corn exports have struggled to recapture some of the previous year's form after a poor planting experience drastically reduced outlooks for the country’s production.

That has driven up domestic prices, which have spilled over into firmer FOB export values, at a time when Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine have been dispersing their own record corn crops.

The purchase takes Mexico’s net sales for 2019/20 to 8.3 million mt since the start of the marketing year, putting it just 300,000 mt behind the volume purchased at the same stage of 2018.

At the time, Mexico contributed around 31% of US net sales, versus this year when Mexico has been one of the US’s most consistent customer, taking its share of US exports to around 51% of the total bought to date.

The biggest daily corn sale in history remains a 3.72 million mt purchase announced on January 9, 1991, destined for the Soviet Union.