India has struck its first corn export deal in many years, taking advantage of shrinking global supplies, which have lifted world prices of the grain to their highest level in a decade, a Singapore trader said on Thursday.
The sale of about 150,000 tonnes of corn by India should provide the market with some breathing space at a time when feed grain buyers in the region are scrambling for cargoes at competitive prices due to a lack of offers from China.
"Indonesia has been the biggest buyer for Indian corn. Malaysia and Sri Lanka have also bought cargoes from India," Vijay Iyengar, managing director of Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, told Reuters. Another Singapore trader confirmed the deals. Most of the deals were sealed at $160-$175 a tonne, free-on-board, for November and December shipments, traders said.
On Wednesday, corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade leaped nearly 2 percent to a decade high and new contract highs on technical fund buying and tight supplies. Corn closed 7-3/4 cents per bushel higher to 1 cent lower, with December up 6-3/4 cents at $3.57-3/4 per bushel.
"We have to now see how many more deals for exports can be finalised in the next few weeks. Domestic corn prices in India have also started moving up," Iyengar said.
He added the recent sales to Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka had been sealed for shipments in containers and in bulk. Normally, Asian buyers bring in small cargoes from China at competitive prices but Beijing recently has asked exporters to slow sales as it is worried that domestic prices may soar in line with surging international prices. This has prompted Asian buyers to look for alternatives. India annually harvests a corn crop of about 12-14 million tonnes.