# Maize: Trading

How 5,000-bushel Chicago contracts price grain worldwide

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/trading/

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

The world benchmark is CBOT corn futures on CME Group, in contracts of 5,000 bushels. Physical grain is priced as a basis, a premium or discount to the nearby future at a given place. Dalian, Brazil's B3 and Euronext list regional contracts. USDA's monthly WASDE and its end-March planting and end-June acreage reports regularly jolt prices (Geman, pdf p. 155). Physical flows run through the 'ABCD' houses, ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, plus China's COFCO (Blas & Farchy, pdf p. 232). Pirrong notes that hedging October inventory with a December future leaves calendar-spread risk (pdf p. 14).

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Feed millers and livestock integrators in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Egypt and the EU import cargoes
- China's COFCO and private processors buy within China's 7.2 Mt tariff-rate quota
- US ethanol plants and wet mills buy from local farmers and elevators
- In India, poultry feed makers, starch makers and distilleries buy at mandis, from NAFED/NCCF and occasionally under the 0.5 Mt import tariff-rate quota

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- US farmers via elevators to Gulf and Pacific Northwest ports
- Brazil (Mato Grosso, Paraná) via Santos, Paranaguá and northern Arc ports
- Argentina via Rosario on the Paraná river
- Ukraine via Odesa-area Black Sea ports

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **CME Group CBOT** | Corn, 5,000 bushels (about 127 t) | world benchmark |
| **B3 (Brazil)** | Corn, 450 bags of 60 kg (27 t) | Brazilian domestic benchmark |
| **Dalian Commodity Exchange** | Yellow corn, 10 t | China domestic benchmark |
| **Euronext Paris** | Corn, 50 t | EU benchmark |
| **NCDEX (India)** | Maize (feed/industrial grade) | Indian domestic contract; liquidity varies |

#### Contract types

- FOB cargoes priced as a basis over CBOT futures
- Farmer forward contracts and basis contracts with elevators
- Importer tenders (Korea's feed associations, Egypt, Iran)
- Government MSP purchases in India (small for maize)

#### Top trading houses

- ADM
- Bunge (with Viterra)
- Cargill
- Louis Dreyfus
- COFCO International
- Marubeni and Zen-Noh (Japan)

#### How prices are discovered

- CBOT futures and Gulf/Brazil FOB basis assessments
- Price agencies: S&P Global Commodity Insights, Argus, Fastmarkets Agricensus
- USDA WASDE, Crop Production and weekly export sales
- Dalian futures for China

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/links/index.md)