The corn market made gains on Thursday and closed in Chicago with solid gains. The March contract gained 5.50 US cents to reach 435.00 US cents/bushel. The May futures contract improved by 6.00 US cents to 443.00 US cents/bushel. Continuing contracts also closed firmer, which from a trader's point of view was mainly due to the continued strength in soybeans and soybean meal, which had a supportive effect on the entire grain complex.
Fundamentally, however, the picture remained subdued. Weekly US export sales amounted to 1.04 million tons of corn in the week ending 29 January. This was around 37% below the previous week and almost 30% below the previous year's level. The most important buyer was Mexico with 247,600 tons, closely followed by Japan with 246,800 tons. South Korea secured a further 125,800 tons. From a market perspective, these figures are solid, but not strong enough to give the market a clear bullish impulse.
Internationally, the focus shifted to the Brazilian export figures. Brazil shipped 4.25 million tons of maize in January. Although this represented a decline of a good 30% compared to the same month last year, it was around 18% higher than in the same period of the previous year. This competition on the global market is limiting the upside potential and is keeping the maize market in a wait-and-see mode despite the recent gains.
There was no change on Euronext. March closed again at €191.50/t.
