China becomes the biggest buyer of corn from Brazil in January

A China became the main destination of exports in corn of Brazil in January in volume, surpassing traditional importers such as Japan, Will It is Spainaccording to revised trade data released by the Brazilian government on Wednesday.

Brazil sold 983,684 tons to China in the period, the second full month of corn trade after Beijing’s authorizations for Brazilian sales of the cereal at the end of November.

The country already sends most of its soy to China, a major importer that also buys meat and other staples from Brazil.

Winning a big customer like China will help Brazil get an even bigger share of the global corn trade.

Until recently, China imported approximately 70% of the corn from the USA and 29% of Ukrainian corn, the cereal exporters association Anec said on Wednesday.

But after invasion of ukraine for the RussiaChina looked for new suppliers.

Last year, China was already the destination of 1.16 million tons of corn from Brazil, with almost all shipped in December.

In 2023, despite the increase in domestic corn production, China will import around 20 million tons, Anec said.

Also this Wednesday, the National Supply Company (Conab) raised the cereal export forecast from Brazil to 47 million tons in the 2022/23 season, compared to 45 million tons previously estimated.

In terms of value, Brazilian corn exports to China totaled US$271.4 million in January, representing about 15% of the US$1.773 billion total exported in the month, according to revised trade data.

Japan, Brazil’s second-biggest corn buyer by volume and first by value last month, paid US$275.2 million for 975,858 tons, new trade data showed.

The Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) also revised data on Brazilian corn exports for January, reducing the volume to 6.16 million tons, compared to 6.34 million tons indicated last week.

Citing data from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed this Wednesday, consultancy Carlos Cogo pointed out that Brazilian exporters should send 50 million tons of corn to the international market this year, versus 48.9 million tons from the North Americans, taking the lead in global shipments of the cereal.

“The USDA, for the first time, confirms Cogo’s projection… With an impressive trajectory, in less than 15 years, Brazilian exports went from just over 10 million tons to 50 million tons”, said in a note the owner and consulting director, Carlos Cogo.