Corn Starch Prices Observe See-Saw Trend Amidst Fluctuated Upstream Market in China

Shandong: In March 2023, the price of Corn Starch by-products, including corn gluten feed, remained low, the profit of deep processing industries' maize processing continued to decline, and the attitude of manufacturers to support the price gradually grew stronger. In addition, the manufacturers gradually increased the price of Corn Starch, which led to a small increase in the domestic corn starch ex-factory price. This was supported by the relatively low domestic Corn Starch inventory and the modest recovery of downstream demand. Market dynamics in China indicate that the price of maize starch will remain high in the near future, backed by low stockpiles and continued losses in processing profitability.

The local Corn Starch processing industry experienced losses in the middle of March as a result of the ongoing fall in by-product pricing. The loss had an adverse effect on manufacturers' operating rates, which in turn had a negative influence on Corn Starch inventories. The domestic Corn Starch price did not follow the negative trend of the domestic maize market's weakening price, and the manufacturers' supportive attitude towards price helped the domestic Corn Starch price to advance normally.

The domestic Maize market prices fell significantly during the last week of this month, and under the strain of the ongoing cost decrease, the downstream trading entities of Corn Starch adopted a more cautious outlook. The ongoing drop in upstream costs did not match the manufacturers' prices, and processing profits continued to experience losses. Enterprises had gradually dropped their factory rates to secure shipment, although the local maize starch market price had somewhat decreased.

ChemAnalyst states that due to fundamentally weak downstream demand from the food and pharmaceutical industries, Corn Starch prices are projected to continue to decline in the upcoming weeks. Adequate market supplies also impacted the prices of Corn Starch brought on by falling production costs.