TMO settles for 155k mt from late season Black Sea corn tender

14 May 2020 | Tim Worledge

Turkey’s state-backed grains importing agency TMO has bought only 62% of the volume it was looking for after tendering to buy corn for late May and early June shipment, market sources have told Agricensus Thursday.

The tender, released on May 8, initially looked for 250,000 mt of corn for delivery in 10 cargoes, but appears to have settled for 155,000 mt, with some ports receiving little or no offers at the first round. 

Glencore and Hakan Agro had been the dominant presence in that first round, and both managed to secure two cargoes each, with VA Intertrading winning one cargo and ADM securing the final position.

However, no offers were shown into Mersin and only one offer was shown into the port of Tekirdag, with TMO passing.

That left Glencore to deliver 25,000 mt into Iskenderun and Bandirma, offering the corn at $188.17/mt and $188.32/mt respectively, on a CFR delivered basis.

Hakan Agro will supply 25,000 mt cargoes into Samsun at $193.90/mt CFR and Derince at $192.50/mt CFR. 

For Izmir, VA Intertrading was the lowest at the end of the first round and sold 30,000 mt of corn at $189.50/mt CFR, leaving ADM to sell the final 25,000 mt parcel at $188.85/mt into the port of Bandirma.

All positions are for shipment between May 22-June 10.

The tender was launched as Ukraine’s corn marketing year winds down, with the Black Sea corn markets showing few availabilities amid low farmer selling, heavy export commitments and strong internal EU demand that has crimped supply from the EU Black Sea corn exporters.

That has left little in the tank to meet TMO’s requirements, rasing the possibility of further buying as the region’s supply situation becomes clearer.

For more information on TMO’s buying, please see our Tender Dashboard.

Updated to reflect results.