An increase in the number of vessels chartered by traders for November and December increased the demand for corn in Ukraine. However, farmers do not want to sell corn at low prices, so buyers have to increase their purchase prices every day.
During last week, purchase prices for corn grew by another 5-10 $/t to 140-145 $/t or 128-133 €/t with delivery to Black Sea ports. Prices in Danube ports reached even 150-155 $/t or 317-142 €/t but producers restrained sales in anticipation of further price growth.
As of November 17, Ukrainian agrarians have harvested 24 million tons of corn from 77% of the areas. These figures confirm the optimistic harvest forecasts at the level of 30 million tons.
The pace of corn exports is much lower than last year. Thus, in 2023 as of November 16, only 4.87 million tons of corn were exported out of the 20 million tons projected by the USDA. For this period last year Ukraine has exported 8.25 million tons.
Active export of corn from Brazil, which shipped 8 million tons of corn in October, restrains supplies from other exporting countries.