Thailand bought 40,000 tonnes of Australian prime wheat this week for shipment in April, while flour millers from Malaysia and Indonesia were seeking cargoes for May and June shipment. Indian corn and soyameal exports are expected to slow after Vietnam rejected several cargoes over fumigation issues this week, regional traders said on Friday.
Australia prime wheat was traded to Vietnam at $410 a tonne, including cost and freight (C&F) and there were not many other deals reported in the region as buyers were still negotiating cargoes. "Malaysia and Indonesia have largely covered until April, so they are sniffing around for supplies for May onwards," said one trading manager with an international trading company. "Prices have risen in past few weeks, so buyers will wait for the market to come down slightly before putting more orders."
Tightening global grain supplies amid droughts, floods and an unrelenting demand for feed, food and fuel have triggered a spike in grains prices, with US wheat and corn more than doubling from last summer's lows. Japan farm ministry has bought a total of 164,574 tonnes of milling wheat from the United States and Canada through a tender that closed on Thursday.
US dark northern spring wheat was quoted between $480 and $520 a tonne, depending on protein content, C&F in Asia and soft wheat was offered around $380 a tonne this week, traders said. US hard red winter wheat was priced around $420 a tonne. Australia prime hard wheat is priced at $400-$415 a tonne, traders said. In Asia's feed grain business, India's exports of corn and soyameal are expected to suffer after one of its biggest buyers, Vietnam, rejected shipments over fumigation issues.
Buyers will not take the risk of purchasing Indian cargoes after Vietnam's rejection, despite the fact that they have been using Indian grains for months, said another Singapore-based trader. "Some of the demand will turn to South American supplies."
India is in talks with Vietnam to resolve a row after the Southeast Asian nation rejected corn and soyameal cargoes because of an infestation of Khapra beetles, India's trade minister said on Thursday. South American crops will be in focus in Asia in the weeks ahead with harvest due to pick up next month and importers looking for soyameal and corn cargoes. The new-crop soyameal from Argentina is being offered at $480 a tonne, C&F, for shipment in May, compared with Indian meal being quoted around $450 to $455 a tonne.
Nonghyup Feed, the largest feedmaker in South Korea, battling the country's worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, is seeking corn and feed wheat in its first tenders this year, traders said. Feedmakers in South Korea, the world's No 3 corn buyer for feed and food, have been sidelined since the beginning of the year by rising global grain prices and falling demand for feed, with nearly a third of the country's pig population culled in three months to stem the spread of foot-and-mouth.