Peanut Market Update December 2021 Week 49
In general, the market seems to have slowed down, and it’s expected to be quite calm in the next month as well. Overall projections show that the US market looks very promising over the next 12 months.
As it has been this year, the supply side of things isn’t that good. Freight rates have been a very big point of contention with their volatility both inland and ocean, which has led to an increase in costs across the board. But this was expected.
COVID-19 and its new variants are certainly not helping the situation, but the overall view of the market isn’t too different from what’s been since the pandemic began. There are concerns about what will happen if any new restrictions are placed, as this led to the freight issue in the first place, but overall, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.
USA
According to the National Peanut Tonnage, 3,065,463 fst have been graded versus the USDA crop estimate of 3,121,250 fst. There’s been a difference between the projections and actual numbers due to a delay in Georgia, Florida, and Texas. However, it is expected that once the 2021 crop is complete, it will be fairly close to the USDA estimate.
The current domestic market prices have risen slightly since last month, but most shellers are pretty happy with it. There has been continued interest from Western Europe in a range of whole kernels, but no one is willing to take the risk with freights.
Argentina
Argentina has already begun planting new crops for 2021, and the projected samplings will possibly be 5% lower than the previous year. The most important issue is the weather which is quite unpredictable right now because of the odds of a third good crop in the La Nina weather patterns.
In general, planting and growing costs have increased for shellers, and the freight challenges are also increasing costs and causing delays.
Brazil
By now, about 90% of plantings have been complete with the recent rains. So far, the forecast is that the plantings will be complete soon, and with good weather, it’s a great start to the season.
China
China shows no interest in buying peanuts from the United States, and this will be the case until the Chinese New Year, when Chinese peanut oil crushers will re-evaluate their stocks and demand. China usually buys its stocks from Africa and has peanut planting intentions for 2022. While this year China had shown interest in purchasing from the United States and Argentina, these prospects were dashed due to COVID-19.
We will let you know more as the situation progresses.
