Brazil set to become the world's leading corn exporter, overtaking the U.S. for the second time in history

Photo by Carl Schlabach, Unsplash

The days of U.S. "king of corn" exports are coming to a close. “Brazil is set to overtake the United States this year as the world’s top corn exporter, reports Ana Mano of Reuters, “reflecting both a bumper harvest and logistical breakthroughs such as the consolidation of northern export routes, which are boosting the competitiveness of the South American grains powerhouse.”

The increased exports in Brazil are helped by more shipments from its northern region because of investments in nearby ports, "which use the waterways of the Amazon River basin to ship grains globally," Mano reports. "The shift underscores how Brazil, which churns out three corn crops per year and still has huge expanses of under-used farmland, is finally overcoming some of the infrastructure bottlenecks that have long made it hard to get its bountiful harvests to global markets."

Last year, Brazil publicized its new supply deal with China, which suggests Brazil "may be opening a longer era of supremacy over U.S. corn exports, unlike the last time the Brazilians briefly grabbed the global corn crown during North America's drought-hit 2012-13 season," Mano writes. "Major new investments in Brazil have begun to ease several chokepoints and bring down logistics costs sharply, helping to undercut U.S. farmers. Corn futures in Chicago have fallen from a 10-year high in April 2022 to a two-and-a-half-year low this month, in part due to ample supplies from Brazil."