February 28, 2008

 

Corn prices fall in southern China as transport woes ease 

 

 

China's corn prices were mostly stable in the northern producing regions in the week to Wednesday ( Feb 28, 2008), but fell in the non-producing regions due to decreased costs.

 

Improving transportation after the Lunar New Year helped to push corn prices lower in southern non-producing regions.

 

Analysts expect corn prices in non-producing regions to fall another RMB20-RMB30/tonne in the near term on declining transportation fees

 

Meanwhile, prices were stable in the northern producing regions. Corn prices in Jiamusi in major producing Heilongjiang province were between RMB960 and RMB1,000 a tonne, stable from a week ago.

 

Corn prices in Changsha city in non-producing Hunan province were between RMB1,790 and RMB1,900/tonne, down RMB10-RMB30/tonne from a week earlier.

 

Trading was light in northeast China's producing region as industrial processing plants stayed on sidelines while feedmeal plants were not actively buying, said traders.

 

However, farmers increased their sales volume of corn as they need money for spring planting.

 

The stalemate is likely to last until early March, said China Grain Network.

 

The latest data from the National Grain and Oil Trade Center shows China sold 61,187 tonnes of corn from state reserves Tuesday ( Feb 27, 2008), or 14.3 percent of the 427,930 tonnes it had planned to sell.

 

The average price was RMB1,773/tonne, it said, up from RMB1,764/tonne in last week's auction.

 

Including this sale, the government has sold 813,354 tonnes of corn from its state reserves since December, or 16.5 percent of its planned sale of 4.93 million tonnes aimed at stabilising domestic feedmeal prices.

 

(US$1=RMB 7.12)