January 6, 2011

China's 2010 corn output estimated at 172 million tonnes

China's corn production in 2010 was about 172 million tonnes, down 940,000 tonnes from a previous estimate, according to a report by an agribusiness consultancy firm.

The latest output forecast is up 4.9% from the 2009 National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, it added.

The company revised output since actual acreage in Heilongjiang, a major producing province, is 808,000 hectares lower than previously estimated, but a higher acreage forecast in Jilin and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region cannot offset the decline, according to the report.

The nation's total corn acreage was about 32.4 million hectares, down 170,000 hectares from a previous calculation but up 3.8% from 2009 NBS data, since corn prices grew faster compared with wheat and rice in 2010.

The company revised up the per-unit corn yield by 1 kg per hectare to 5,317 kg/hectare, up 1.1% from NBS data from 2009, as yield was boosted by ample rains and conducive temperature.

The growth in output last year exceeded that of consumption, while the total output was also higher than consumption.

China's corn imports aren't expected to grow sharply in the 2010-11 crop year from October 2010, due to high prices in international markets and ample domestic harvest.

The country will likely import about two million tonnes of corn in the crop year, far lower than many analysts' forecast of 5.5 million tonnes in the 2011 calendar year.

Corn imports in the first 11 months of 2010 stood at about 1.56 million tonnes.

The state-backed China National Grain and Oil Information Centre said in a December estimate that China's corn output in 2010 was expected to have increased 5% to 172.5 million tonnes.