Miller Magazine Issue: 130 October 2020

62 COVER STORY MILLER / OCtOber 2020 from Russia in view of its high export potential in MY 2020/21. In its latest tender, Saudi Arabia bought 540 KMT of barley for November-December delivery. It seems it is barley of Australian origin that will be shipped in De- cember. KAZAKHSTAN: PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS We estimate 2020/21 barley production in Kazakhstan at 3.9 MMT (+2% on the year) and exports at last year’s level, i.e. 1.3 MMT. The top buyer of Kazakh barley in MY 2019/20 was Iran, whose export share equals 86% (for the 11 months). Most likely, MY 2020/21 will bring no surprises and the range of destinations for Kazakh barley exports will remain unchanged. CORN Prices Corn of Ukrainian origin is now more expensive than American product and priced up USD 40 from last year. Nevertheless, market participants still point out active demand from the main buyer, i.e. China. UKRAINE: PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS Ukraine is the main corn producer in the region. For two seasons in a row, we have observed record crops and exports. However, the summer of 2020 turned out to be hard for corn due to soil moisture shortages: UkrAgroConsult forecasts Ukraine’s corn crop at 35 MMT at a yield of 6.64 MT/ha. Our export estimate equals 28.5 MMT (down 2% from last year, but up 24% from the five-year average) due to potentially strong for- eign demand. 2019/20 corn crop results: 1. Exports totaled 29.12 MMT that is the second high- est after MY 2018/19; 2. The main destinations included the EU (largely Spain and the Netherlands), China and Egypt: 3. Major importers stepped up purchases, except for the EU (-32%), Turkey (-25%), and Israel (-26%). The EU corn crop in MY 2019/20 was the largest in three years (over 70 MMT), with exports reaching a re- cord some 6 MMT (+1.6 MMT on the year). This re- duced demand for Ukrainian corn – the top buyer of EU product was Turkey.