ODA Market Alert: Muted market response to USDA Dec crop report.

In their December crop forecast, which is traditionally a quiet ‘data’ month, USDA officials trimmed 2020/21 🌎 world stocks of 🌽 corn, 🍞wheat and 🌱 soybeans. However, the market had already priced-in a slightly more aggressive stance, bearing in mind current knowledge about global trade flows and so this report was seen as neutral, at best, for prices. For wheat, world stocks were reduced by 4Mt, although 🇨🇳 China’s share of this was 3Mt; so negligible impact. In addition, China is now seen importing 16.5Mt US 🌽 corn, from 13Mt previously. This may need to be revised higher in subsequent reports. Overall, the report can be seen as confirming the relatively bullish tone for global prices.