Corn: A golden opportunity to fix the belated sowing
April 13, 2018 at 12:31 PM ,
Starry Night Ltd.
BULGARIA. Nationwide, the sowing of corn has been quite belated due to earlier disfavoring weather conditions, infusing the soil with abundant water reserves. As a result, active fieldwork has been yet pulled back.
Corn: the road ahead
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the 5th of April 2018, planted land with corn stood at 1,745 ha. By that time last year, farmers managed to sow fields of 79,968 ha, which on a year-to-year basis is close to 98% in favor of last year. Anyhow, the most recent weather forecast predicts temperatures, which most of the days will be above the threshold that is usual for the Spring season, to maintain their highs at least till the end of the second ten-days period of the month. Hopefully, such meteorological conditions will allow farmers to confidently enter fields and start active fieldwork on a larger scale. Yet, the optimal period of sowing corn will definitely have passed in some regions.
Harvest 2017-18 (01.09.2017 - 06.04.2018) units in MT |
|
Beginning availability |
580,000 |
Aggregate output |
2,315,387 |
Imports |
10,460 |
Domestic consumption |
780,000 |
food & industrial usage |
300,000 |
feed |
480,000 |
Exports to the world |
912,222 |
to EU markets |
757,257 |
to rest of the world |
154,965 |
Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture
A coin has two different faces
Harvest 2017-18 was a success for local farmers nationwide, with the exception of really several fields, mainly within the Northwest and central North regions, that were severely hit by sudden hailstorms; and as a result, farmers there got their corn stalks hammered into the ground. The high-quality characteristics of corn, together with competitive prices – current prices (0.142 EUR/kg EXW) are lower than those of last year at that time (0.154 EUR/kg EXW) – have maintained a strong total export rate so far in the season. According to local authorities, up-to-date total exports exceed those of last year by 7.51%; with shipments to EU markets, leading those of the previous season by 12.35%; while those to non-EU markets lag behind by 11.17% on a yearly basis. Competitive forces within the Black sea basin exert pressure on exports outside the Union, and as a result, shipped volumes suffered. There is no short-term indication the trends will reverse.