US-based Smithfield is the largest pig and pork producer in the world with the\u00a0move coming after rumours that corn sourced from Argentina had also been moved to the US state, which is on the country\u2019s eastern seaboard.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cArgentina corn was reported to Wilmington (North Carolina). Brazil, I know it has sold four 2019 cargoes and another two for 2020,\u201d an Argentina-based source said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Smithfield operates the largest pork processing facility in the world, capable of handling 35,000 pigs a day, at Tar Heels in North Carolina, approximately 100 kilometres northwest of the port of Wilmington.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Although US-based, the company is owned by China\u2019s WH Group following its acquisition in October 2018.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Argentina-based market sources mulled whether the impact of corn planting fears is weighing on domestic end users.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI think that corn end users in the US are worried on physical corn\u2026 This smoke makes me think that there is a big fire somewhere. Do they expect a big impact on yields?\u201d a third source said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
US corn futures and cash prices have been forced higher as a seemingly bottomless cocktail of rain and floods has swamped fields, prevented planting, and played havoc with logistics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI have never heard (of Smithfield buying in South America) … but as I have heard it’s due to the cost of bringing down corn from the Midwest… so I guess Mississippi’s flooding is enabling this trade,\u201d the first source said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
US Gulf FOB prices reached $198\/mt on Thursday, putting them close to $30\/mt above the Argentina FOB Up River market.<\/p>\r\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/CAmRH3I55pt2UA9QGg6UVM5QkLe6Q7KWOsJvtn9Fo0SGUiuxOusVI3ZfbTXF1VfVuThRomI1eVgaN053wghykNTT36pA_Soe8AkEg8T5u0USwzkJGVrmnYG2z7V_j_fRl2E2Wzbc\")
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