Spain and Portugal keep US corn flows going

The US has now delivered more than 2,1 million tons of grain corn to the European Union. Of that, 1,3 million tons went to Spain and more than 550.000 tons to Portugal. Ireland and Italy follow with approximately 120.000 to 130.000 tons. The Netherlands is the US's fifth-largest EU customer, with nearly 25.000 tons, primarily imported two weeks ago.

The United States is a much larger supplier of corn to the EU this year than a year ago. This is mainly because Ukraine has had significantly less corn available for export in recent months and because free exports from that country to the EU have been restricted.

In 2024, EU member states purchased a total of 1,3 million tons of corn from the US from July 1st through the first week of December. This year, the amount is 60% higher during the same period. This is despite the fact that total corn imports this year are still far behind last year. In 2024, 9,1 million tons had already been imported by early December; this year, that figure is 7,1 million tons.

Brazil largest supplier
Brazil is the EU's main corn supplier so far this season, with 2,9 million tons, but the US is closing the gap every week. Since the end of October, virtually no corn has been shipped from Brazil to the EU. The US and now Ukraine have taken over.

With the arrival of the new harvest, imports from Ukraine have resumed. Between 100.000 and 200.000 tons of Ukrainian maize are now entering the EU weekly. Italy is the largest buyer of Ukrainian maize, but the Netherlands also imported a significant amount from this country in November. In total, Ukraine has supplied 1,6 million tons of maize to the EU this season, compared to 5 million tons during the same period last year, of which 1,4 million tons went to Spain, 1 million tons to Italy, and 1,2 million tons to the Netherlands.