The United States ranked first among the world’s largest corn exporters in 2021, with foreign sales of 19,112 million dollars, a year-on-year increase of 100 percent.
For the 2022-2023 season, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts global corn production to grow, with an increase in Ukraine more than offsetting reductions in Peru and Zambia.
Conversely, the USDA projects that global imports will decline with a gain in the European Union not offsetting smaller reductions in North Africa and the Middle East.
Global exports are essentially unchanged with a small cut to Turkey.
In the same classification, Argentina achieved second place, exporting corn for a value of 9,064 million dollars, a growth of 50%, year on year, followed by Ukraine (5,854 million, +20%), Brazil (4,189 million, -28%) and Romania (1.941 million, +57 percent).
In the United States in particular, the average seasonal farm price remains unchanged at $6.75 per bushel, the highest since the record set in 2012/2013.
For the 2021/2022 cycle, the USDA estimates that global corn production will be higher, as a larger crop from India will more than offset a slight cut in Mexico.
Global exports have declined marginally with lower forecasts for the United States and Russia more than offsetting increases in the European Union, Moldova and Turkey.
Global imports have also declined with smaller forecasts for Africa, the UK, the Middle East and South America.
Corn exporters
South American offers were little changed last May, while US offers declined.
On May 23, China and Brazil announced that they had signed a Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements that would allow the export of Brazilian corn to China.
According to available information, before trade can begin, export establishments must first register with the Chinese government.
However, according to the USDA, if the trade begins in large quantities, it could reshape global corn trade flows.
In the 2020/2021 season (October to September), China imported almost 30 million tons of corn; almost 70% was imported from the United States and most of the rest from the Ukraine.
In March 2022, the most recent month of published data, Ukraine exported just 1.1 million tons of corn, of which some 400,000 tons went to China.
By comparison, corn exports totaled 2.6 million tonnes a year ago, with nearly half of that volume going to China.
With Ukraine’s corn exports currently restricted by the ongoing war, China appears to be looking elsewhere for supplies.
Other major corn exporters in 2021 were: France ($1,937 million), Hungary ($1,046 million), India ($936 million), South Africa ($809 million), and Russia ($694 million), according to the WTO.
