Market News & Headlines >> Brazil's Corn Export Campaign Starts Slowly

Brazil's 2020/21 corn export season has kicked off this month, albeit slowly, with the number of ships expected to load and depart with the product in July being less than half what it was in the same month last year, according to Cargonave shipping data.

Some 39 vessels are lined up to load corn at Brazilian ports this month, down from 85 in the same period a year ago, according to Cargonave, Reuters News Service reported on July 2.

"There were lots of contract washouts, with people redirecting sales to the internal market," said Frederico Humberg, chief executive of trading firm AgriBrasil. A broker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters domestic buyers are paying more than external buyers, affecting shipments as less corn is going to be exported.

According to data from grain exporting group ANEC, Brazil will ship about 2.5 million metric tons of corn in July, compared with 5 million tons in the same month last year.