EU corn exports to Egypt, Iran hit record

EU corn exports to Iran so far this season have already surpassed all yearly volumes since records began in the 2001-02 marketing year, while exports to Egypt hit their highest for the period, as Brazil's low corn production and exports have forced importers to seek alternative supply.

The EU is on track to export record amounts of corn this marketing year starting July 2021, with exports cumulatively at 3.06mn t in the week ending 9 January, up from 1.1mn t on the year, preliminary European Commission data show. The highest-ever volume exported for an entire marketing year since records started in 2001-02 was 5.4mn t in 2019-20.

EU corn exports peaked at 1.3mn t in October 2021, well above the five-year average of just over 400,000t over the same period. This was a huge spike on the month, with the EU exporting just under 500,000t a month prior in September 2021 — although this was still 200,000t above the five-year average for September.

Romania led the EU's exports at 2.25mn t in total so far in the 2021-22 marketing year, up from the 736,000t it shipped over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Iran has already imported 766,000t of EU corn so far this year, 245,500t more than it imported from the EU in the whole of the 2020-21 marketing year. At the same time, Egypt received 530,000t of corn from the EU, up from just 6,100t over this period on the year. This was up from a previous high in 2013-14, when the EU exported a combined 459,000t to Egypt by the end of December.

Iran's imports have come mainly from Romania, with the latter beginning exports in October at a combined 401,700 — a new monthly high in that direction.

Brazil's corn production and exports decline

Iran and Egypt's reliance on EU corn comes as Brazil's corn production this year suffered from persisting drought.

Brazilian corn production reached 87mn t this marketing year, its lowest since 2017-18, while its exports of crop were pegged at a five-year low of 18mn t in US Department of Agriculture estimates. Iran has imported 3.23mn t from Brazil so far for Iran's 2021-22 marketing year, the lowest volume since 2013, provisional data from Global Trade Tracker show.

As the EU has stepped up its corn exports since October, Brazil's own exports of crop to the EU have fallen gradually. Ukraine overtook Brazil as the highest supplier of corn to the EU by the end of week ending on 9 January, with the EU importing 157,000t more corn from Ukraine than it did from Brazil this year. The EU imported 1.6mn t more corn from Brazil than Ukraine last season, resulting this year in Brazil losing an 8 percentage point market share and Ukraine gaining 12 points.

By Hannah Adler