US corn export premiums at the Gulf Coast were steady to higher on Tuesday, supported by solid demand for old-crop grain, traders said. Nonghyup Feed, South Korea's largest feedmaker, bought two cargoes of US corn totalling 118,000 tonnes for arrival before September 30, US traders said.
Much of the recent US corn demand has been for shipment to Asia from the Pacific Northwest as Gulf prices were uncompetitive on the world market. Tight old-crop stocks and limited farmer selling supported Gulf values. China's demand for soyabeans has paused because the country is observing a Tomb-sweeping holiday, traders said. Its stock, money, foreign exchange and commodities futures markets are closed through Wednesday. Once buying resumes, China may look to Brazil for soyabeans, instead of the United States, because Brazilian prices look more competitive, a US trader said.
Crop forecasters continued to cut their outlooks for South America's soya harvest due to drought. In Brazil, crop analysts at Agroconsult reduced their estimate for Brazil's soya crop to 65.2 million tonnes from its March estimate of 67.1 million tonnes. The Rosario Grain Exchange lowered its estimate for Argentina's soya crop to 43.1 million tonnes from 44.5 million.