South America Calling

Brazilian Corn Exports Continue Strong in February

Brazilian corn exports continued to flow strongly in February even after the 2015-16 marketing year has ended.

Shipments reached 2.2 million metric tons (mmt) last month, some 180% in excess of the same month last year, according to the Brazilian Cereal Exporters Association (Anec).

Corn cargoes normally dry up in February as terminals prepare for the arrival of the soybean crop. But massive demand, which has driven 2015-16 shipments to a record 31 mmt, led to an overflow.

Brazil has been able to be super-competitive on the corn market following a 33% devaluation of the real since the start of 2015.

Anec began releasing numbers this year as the official government statistics have been unreliable. On Tuesday, trade officials estimated February shipments had reached 5.4 mmt, which is close to an all-time monthly record deep into the off season. The suspicion is that the government is correcting shortfalls in last year's numbers.

Assuming Brazil produced a good crop in the 2015-16 season, analysts expect Brazil to ship over 30 mmt of corn again this year.

(AG)

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