January 5, 2011

China's corn output rise sharply in 2010

China's corn harvest rose by more than 10 million tonnes in 2010, but the country would no longer enjoy surplus corn supplies, although it would strive for self-sufficiency in corn, wheat and rice, top Chinese government officials said.

The country's corn industrial processors are likely to need 70 million tonnes of corn this year, up from 60 million tonnes in 2010, said Vice Agriculture Minister Wei Chaoan Wei. Those figures are far above most estimates with analysts putting processing demand at 35-50 million tonnes.

"The numbers are impossibly high. It could foreshadow further government moves to control corn's industrial use in the future," an analyst said.