January 11, 2012

On Tuesday (Jan 10), South Korea's Nonghyup Feed Inc., or Nofi, bought two cargoes totalling 118,000 tonnes feed-grade US corn on a cost and freight basis for arrival in April, trading executives said.

They said Nofi bought a cargo of 55,000 tonnes from CHS Inc. at US$325.58/tonne, C&F, for arrival by April 1. Nofi's previous purchase of US corn on November 18 was at US$315/tonne, C&F.

Tuesday, it also bought 63,000 tonnes from STX Corp. for arrival by April 10 at US$1.6680/bushel premium over the May corn futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade. The May contract is currently trading around US$6.60/bushel. Nofi passed on the offers to buy two cargoes for arrival by April 5 and April 15 respectively, citing high prices.

Due to dry weather in South America, corn prices have moved up sharply in recent weeks after briefly falling below US$6/bushel late last year. Buyers in East Asia, the world's biggest corn importing region by volume, are rushing to cover their needs in anticipation of further rise in prices.