Market participants surveyed by in the first week of December were expecting strong shipments ahead of the release of the November position report on 12 December. Estimates for the November shipment figure were reported in the range of 210-255 million pounds, with most respondents returning figures of 230-245 million pounds.
“We’ve had a good month and I’d expect to see a figure close to what we saw in October,” a US handler said to Mintec.
Market participants were expecting a drop in new sales as sellers slowed offers amid the previously mentioned quality concerns.
“We’ve been estimating how much stock we are likely to have now that harvest has come to a close and our yields and quality are lower than we expected. Due to this we are looking to slow down our sales from the seasonal pool to see if we can improve average pricing later in the season,” a US seller stated.
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