Japan's import of US corn is seen to rebound this year as the local demand may not be met by China and South America.

China's move to discourage grain exports and Argentina's recent strike have stirred concerns in Japan's grain sector, also due to low corn availability in the two exporting countries.

Nobuyuki Chino, president of Tokyo-based trading firm Unipac Grain, said there might be a switch back to the US this year as last year's frenzied buying of cheaper grains from Argentina and China may not be repeated.

Traders said imports of US corn could grow 5 percent this year despite a rally in Chicago futures to a record above US$6 per bushel, up more than 60 percent from a year earlier.

However, the switch back to US corn will not fetch double-digit rebound as the demand for compound feed from the livestock industry, in particular egg farms, has weakened. Egg laying has not been in full swing due to oversupply in Japan.

Japan, currently the world's biggest corn importer, purchases around 12 million tonnes of corn for feed annually.

In 2007, the country's import of US corn totaled 11.2 million tonnes, down 7 percent from the previous year.

In contrast, imports from China doubled to 557,000 tonnes and those from Argentine rose almost four times to 279,000 tonnes.

Japan depends entirely on corn imports as domestic supplies of the grain, the main component of feed in Japan, is barely enough for the country.