Global Maize Market - Animal Feed and Biofuel Sectors to Drive Consumption

IndexBox has just published a new report "World - Maize - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights". Here is a summary of the report's key findings

Maize Consumption Has Recently Seen Significant Increases

In 2017, the global maize market amounted to X tons, posting solid average +X% gains over the last decade. Since 2013, consumption growth has accelerated, against rising demand and a long-term fall in prices, induced by the slump in energy prices.

In value terms, the market stood at $X, recovering by X% in comparison to 2016 figures. Over the last two years, the value of the maize market recovered from the sharp decline seen in 2015, which corresponded to a decrease in prices. After peaking at a figure of $X in 2013, the market saw tangible contractions over the subsequent two year period; it then recorded a robust upward trend from 2015 to 2017, increasing by +X% against 2015 indices. In 2017, the market still remained slightly lower than the maximum level recorded in 2013. The most noticeable rate of growth was recorded in 2012 when it surged by X% y-o-y.

China and the U.S. Account for More than X% of Global Maize Consumption

The U.S. (X tons), China (X tons) and Brazil (X tons) constituted the countries with the highest volume of consumption, accounting solely for approx. X% of global consumption. The other countries lagged tangibly behind: Mexico (X tons), India (X tons), Indonesia (X tons), and Argentina (X tons).

The highest average annual rates of growth with regard to maize consumption from 2007 to 2017 were recorded in Argentina (+X%), China, with +X% growth, and Indonesia, with + X% growth.

Amongst the leading consuming countries, high per capita consumption levels were recorded in the U.S. (X ton per person in 2017), significantly higher than the world average of X kg per capita. In this country, per capita consumption grew with a CAGR of +X% over the period from 2007-2017. However, the most notable growth in per capita consumption from 2007 to 2017 was recorded in Argentina (X kg pp), with a figure of +X% per year, on average. India (X kg per person) and Indonesia (X kg per person) recorded the lowest volumes of maize per capita consumption.

Maize Consumption Is to Continue Moderate-to-Fast Growth, Against Rising Meat and Bioethanol consumption

Maize consumption is dependent on its price competitiveness and the production of meat, poultry and biofuel. Countries with a large and growing Latin American population are also consuming more maize than the average recorded figure, for food. This mostly affects consumption in Brazil, the U.S. and Mexico.

Meat consumption is expected to be gaining in volume worldwide, particularly in Asia; this would boost demand for maize, one of the most popular livestock feeds. As such, Brazil, the U.S. and China account for almost X% of the world cattle stock and are the largest maize consumers. Meat is a relatively expensive product, so income growth is essential to spur an increase in demand - this is set to rise in China by X% annually in the short-to-medium term.

More than X% of all bioethanol produced is made of starch, for which maize is the most popular ingredient. Demand for bioethanol is expected to be expanding rapidly in the years to come. This would have a considerable impact on maize consumption and demand, as X% of all maize produced globally is used for biofuel production.

However, maize has closely-related and easily interchangeable substitutes both for feed and fuel production, which might decelerate growth if these would appear to be more competitive at a certain point. As such, some Chinese producers are starting to switch to soybean and wheat production, as Chinese maize prices are too high to be competitive, but imports, in addition, are also limited. Therefore, the growth of Chinese demand for maize is expected to slow down gradually, thereby hampering the global market growth, to some extent.

With the increasing global demand for maize, and a potential slump in demand from China in the future, the market volume is expected to maintain a positive dynamic but with a weaker trend. Market performance is forecast to grow with an anticipated CAGR of +X% for the period from 2018 to 2025, which is expected to lead the market volume to X tons by 2025.

Maize Production Growth Accelerated

Maize production reached X tons in 2017; a relatively flat trend from 2007-2012 was followed by a period of rapid growth through to 2017, accelerated by increased consumption as a result of competitively low global maize prices. In value terms, global maize production was estimated at $X in 2017, a result of the dramatic surge observed in both 2015 and 2016. The value of production overall has remained very unstable, with mostly X y-o-y percentage changes.

Russia and Ukraine Have Intensively Increased Maize Output

The U.S., China and Brazil remain the key world maize producing countries, with an output of approx. X tons in 2017, which accounted for X% of the global output. The other major producers each hold a share of less than X percent of global output.

Over the period from 2007-2017, the volume of production in China increased by +X% annually; this figure was a +X% increase in Brazil and a mere +X% in the U.S., largely due to the favourable economic conditions and the expansion of major downstream industries (cattle, poultry, hogs production, biofuel manufacturing). The other leaders also experienced high paces of production growth: Russia (+X% per year), Ukraine (+X% per year), and Argentina (+X% per year).

Approx. X% of Global Production of Maize Is Exported

Maize is not a widely traded commodity, and the trade volumes accounted for approx. X% of global production. This can be largely explained by the relative simplicity of maize production and the crop's tangible ability to adapt to different climates and geographic locations. Therefore, most of the produced maize is consumed domestically.

Ukraine, Russia, Romania and India Increased Maize Exports

In 2017, the volume of global maize exports totalled X tons, a decrease of X% against the previous year. The overall trend observed from 2007-2011 has remained relatively flat, but a period of growth concluded with a spike in 2015.

The U.S. (X tons), Argentina (X tons), Ukraine (X tons) and Brazil (X tons) were the main global suppliers of maize, with a combined share of X% of global exports. They were followed by India, Russia, France and Romania, each accounting for about X% of global exports. From 2007 to 2017, Russia (+X%), Ukraine (+X% per year), Romania (+X%) and India (+X%) were the fastest growing suppliers amongst the major exporters. Despite being one of the largest global producers of maize, China did not export much of their production, meaning that it was either domestically consumed, or put in storage.

While the share of the Argentina (+X percentage points), Russia (+X percentage points), Romania and India (+X percentage points, each) increased, the share of the U.S. fell from X% in 2007, to X% in 2017. The shares of the other countries remained relatively stable throughout the analyzed period.

Mexico and Japan Remain the Largest Importers of Maize

The volume of global imports totaled X tons in 2017. The trend pattern with regard to imports practically mirrored that of exports, as these trade flows complement each other an a global scale.

In 2017, Mexico (X tons) and Japan (X tons) remained the leading destinations for maize imports, together making up X% of global imports. They were followed by South Korea (X%), Egypt (X%) and Vietnam (X%). Amongst the major importing countries, Vietnam (+X% per year) gained the highest annual rates of growth from 2007 to 2017. Mexico has also increased its imports, while Japan has seen them decrease slightly. Vietnam (+X percentage points) and Mexico (+X percentage point) increased their shares, while Japan (-X percentage points) and South Korea (-X percentage points) saw their shares reduced. The shares of the other countries have continued to increase relatively robustly.

Do you want to know more about the global maize market? Get the latest trends and insight from our report. It includes a wide range of statistics on

• maize market share
• maize prices
• maize industry
• maize sales
• maize import
• maize export
• maize market forecast
• maize price forecast
• key maize producers

Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform