The peanut market has remained firm with price increases across many grades since the start of the year. Despite the lack of supply options for EU buyers, recent demand has been relatively weak, but, we expect that to change as we start to see Brazil and Argentina ship goods in May and June, respectively.
Harvesting is almost complete for the 2021 Brazil crop and although yields are expected to be mixed, a 20-25% increase in exported volumes from last year is still expected. Brazil have been increasing their exports for several years now, mainly to Russia and Algeria, however because of issues surrounding Aflatoxin in past crops, exports to the EU have decreased by around 10% in the last five years.
Argentina is underway with harvesting their 2021 crop and although quality is expected to be similar to last year, a reduction in shelled peanuts (for exports) is expected. The 2020 crop saw over 710,000mt of shelled peanuts exported and current estimations show that 2021 exports could be as little as 620,000mt.
The US domestic market has remained strong, but birdfeed material seems in short supply. A small number of shellers have started to offer new crop pricing for October 21 onwards, but with pricing as high as we have seen it for many years, most buyers seem reluctant to take forward positions at this stage.