Brazil March corn exports down 40.2% on year: trade ministry

Corn exports from Brazil in March fell by 40.2% year on year to 494,600 mt, according to the data released by Brazil’s Ministry of economy, industry, foreign trade and services.

Record exports during the last marketing year and losses in the first corn crop yields in southern parts of Brazil this season have depleted domestic stocks.

Domestic corn prices have been soaring on the back of strong local demand, mainly from livestock and ethanol manufactures, which has reduced the corn available for exports.

As of Friday, average weekly corn prices in the state of Mato Grosso was Real 41.10 ($7.83)/60 kg, up 73% from a year ago, according to the Instituto Mato-Grossense de Economia Agropecuria, or IMEA.

Mato Grosso is the largest corn producing state in Brazil and accounts for over 50% of the country’s corn exports.

Brazil is expected to export 34 million mt of corn in 2019-20, which refers to the period between February 2020-January 2021, as compared with the estimate of 41.17 million mt in the previous marketing season, according to Conab.

So far Brazil has exported 841,000 mt of corn in February-March, down 65.3% compared to the same period last year, customs data showed.
Source: Platts