April 24, 2008

 

China corn prices strong in production areas, weak in eastern areas

 

 

China's corn prices were mixed in the week to Wednesday, with prices stronger in the northeast producing region and at southern ports, but still weak in eastern areas.

 

Corn bidding prices by Dacheng Co. in Changchun city in the major producing Jilin province were at RMB1,460 ($209.08) a metric tonne, up RMB60/tonne from a week ago.

 

Corn settlement prices at Shekou port in southern Guangdong province were between RMB1,730-RMB1,740/tonne, up RMB10-RMB20/tonne.

 

Corn purchase prices in Shijiazhuang city in Hebei province were at RMB1,560/tonne, stable from a week before.

 

Farmers have limited corn stocks on hand and they are now busy with spring planting, so corn processing plants have to raise bidding prices to attract volume.

 

Increased demand for feedmeal also helped to support the prices.

 

Farmers are likely to reduce sales of corn, diverting supplies to meet their demand for hogs' feedmeal, according to a survey by the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.

 

However, a large amount of corn arriving in eastern China pushed local prices lower.

 

The government failed to attract interest in any of the 314,313 tonnes of corn it planned to sell during its regular auction this week, showing weak demand in some consumption regions.

 

Therefore in the near term corn prices are likely to remain weak in consumption areas but stay strong in producing regions due to dwindling stocks, said China Corn Network in an analysis article published on its Web site.