S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 So far, 2021 has seen high-record prices and a strong demand in the maize market. Year to date, exports from Brazil climbed 30% from a year ago. Despite the high in prices, the Arabs stepped up their purchases, which fetched USD 212.5 million year to date through March, up 132%.<\/p>\n
Cepea<\/a>, an applied economics center at S\u00e3o Paulo University, which tracks maize prices, reported a smaller maize supply in the market. Farmers are keeping an eye on the low supplies of the 2019\/2020 season and concern over the development of new crops. The demand from buyers, though, has remained high and with short notice. \u201cTherefore, the cereal\u2019s prices has remained on the rise, breaking real records across several markets Cepea tracks,\u201d says a news release made public the institution earlier this week.<\/p>\n To understand the record-high prices, we must look at the strong demand both from the domestic and the foreign market.<\/p>\n It has become more expensive to buy maize not just in Brazil but in the foreign market, too. \u201cThe United States suffered crop losses for two years straight. Over the last weeks, a new factor has come into play. The speculation over a crash in the U.S. crop this year due to a climate issue that could reduce the supply even further. Nothing\u2019s certain yet, but it has made the market restless,\u201d consulting firm Datagro<\/a> senior cereal analyst Fl\u00e1vio Fran\u00e7a Junior told ANBA.<\/p>\n Amid doubts over the volume of maize, China stepped in and rounded up millions of tons of maize from the U.S. Last February only, in a single purchase, the Asian giant purchased 2.1 million tons of the product, the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) reported.<\/p>\n The Chinese move could be one factor that made the Arabs seek more of the commodity from Brazil. In the bloc and the overall ranking of destinations of the Brazilian good, the top buyer in 2021 is an Arab country, Egypt.<\/p>\n Year to date through March, Egyptians purchased USD 158 million of maize from Brazil, up 295% from a year ago. \u201cEgypt already was among the top buyers of maize from Brazil \u2013 last year it was the four major destination. But generally, the Arabs didn\u2019t usually buy so much in this period [first quarter], not at the volume we\u2019ve seen so far,\u201d Fran\u00e7a Junior pointed out. Besides Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia were also among the top buyers of the commodity from Brazil.<\/p>\nForeign market<\/strong><\/h3>\n