China and other big grain importers embarked on a corn and soybean buying spree during the U.S. government’s 16-day shutdown last month, taking advantage of a lapse in mandatory reporting of their deals, data showed Oct. 31.
Figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which had halted collection of required weekly grain export sales information during the shutdown, showed purchases in the three weeks to Oct. 24 had far outstripped analysts’ expectations, despite weeks of market chatter about unusually large purchases.
“It does play out the notion that when nobody is watching, the Chinese will be in to buy,” said Citigroup futures specialist Sterling Smith.
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Sales of corn and soybeans for the three-week period both topped 4.5 million tonnes, exceptionally high even on a pro rata weekly basis. A slump in prices that took benchmark U.S. corn prices to their lowest in three years probably also spurred buying.
All sales to export U.S. grain must be reported to the USDA on a weekly basis, and larger one-off deals must be reported daily. This system was instituted following the 1972 “great grain robbery” in which the Soviet Union quietly arranged a series of big export deals that drove up U.S. prices.
But that system went on hold during the shutdown. Only on Oct. 31 was the USDA able to release tabulated sales made during the three weeks up to Oct. 24, publishing the data in a single batch rather than as three separate weeks.
Topping 4.5 million
Net export sales of soybeans for the current marketing year (2013-14) totalled 4,742,000 tonnes, well above the high end of a range of estimates at three million tonnes.
China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans, bought nearly half of the soy (2,112,300 tonnes), and there was a large sale of 550,800 tonnes to an unknown destination. Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan also bought large volumes.
Corn sales likewise were huge at 4,555,500 tonnes for the current marketing year, nearly twice as large as the high end of 2.5 million in the range of trade estimates.
