April 16, 2004

China Corn Exports Down Sharply In First Quarter

China exported about 1.03 million metric tons of corn in the first quarter of 2004, down 73.7% from exports in the same period of 2003, the China Securities newspaper reported Friday, citing data from China's General Administration of Customs.

In March, China exported only around 20,000 tons, the report said. That was one of the lowest monthly export levels seen in recent years. March corn exports were sharply down from 443,422 tons exported in February.

In the first quarter of 2004, China didn't import any corn, said the report.

The official customs data is usually released on the 20th day of each month, but government agencies and state-owned media sometimes have access to the data earlier than that. China Securities is a subsidiary of the official Xinhua News Agency.

Zhu Chang-Guo, deputy director general of China's State Bureau of Grains, said during a grain conference in Beijing earlier this month that Chinese corn exports could fall to a low of 2.5 million tons in 2004, down from a record high of 16.39 million tons exported in 2003.

The government's first batch of corn export quota allocation in February was only for 1.40 million tons.