The pace of US corn export sales has slowed sharply as importers turn their attention to cheaper supplies in Argentina and Brazil, fuelling a slide in US prices, grain traders said Thursday.
There were also fears that some of the 3 million tonnes of US corn sold to unknown buyers in the current marketing year ending August 31 may be switched to the two rival exporters.
"They are quite a bit cheaper than US corn. FOB to FOB, it's (Argentine) about 22 to 23 cents a bushel," one exporter said, referring to prices that do not include shipping costs.
Based on those values, a tonne of Argentine corn for June shipment costs about $8.50 per tonne less than US supplies, and about $450,000 cheaper for a standard 55,000-tonne cargo.
He said there has also been "re-letting", or switching, to corn of vessels originally booked by Brazil and Argentina to ship soybeans to China.
Processors in China, the world's top soybean importer, have been struggling to make payments on up to 30 cargoes of soy they had purchased from Brazil and Argentina. China has also halted some South American soy shipments, citing quality.
"When we get into late June and early July, we'll see fixtures being made in Argentine and Brazilian ports rather than US," the corn exporter said.
Chicago Board of Trade July corn futures on Thursday closed 11-3/4 cents lower at $2.85-3/4 a bushel, a 4-month low.
Exporter concerns appeared borne out by the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Thursday.
US export sales of old crop corn, which was harvested last year, totalled a mere 53,200 tonnes last week, the lowest one-week tally of the marketing year that began last September and 93 percent below the 4-week average for corn sales.
The report also showed that 329,300 tonnes of corn sold to countries that had yet to be identified by the sellers were cancelled last week. That still leaves a whopping 3.03 million tonnes of corn listed as sold to such unknown destinations.
Another trader said reductions in the sale of US corn to unspecified buyers were a result of switching to Argentina.
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