Corn supply sufficient in China

China has ample corn reserves to meet market demand, according to Zeng Liying, deputy director of the State Administration of Grain.

Zeng predicted that corn prices would not grow sharply as the country has sufficient supply.

Corn prices have maintained slight growth recently.

According to Zeng, the slight growth was due to market expectations on influences from crop failure in north-eastern China in 2009. Besides, the feed and breeding companies are recovering from the global financial crisis and have increased demand for corn. In 2010, corn planting in north-eastern China was delayed by cold weather. Many companies increased corn inventories upon bull market expectations. Speculation at home and abroad has pushed up spot corn prices.

In addition, farmers in north-eastern China are freer to sell corns based on market situation amid improvement of rural financial services and farmers' construction of grain warehouses.

According to investigations by seven provincial bureaus of grain, farmers in major corn producing regions have more than 17 million tonnes of corn for sale. Zeng said that China will not cut auctioned volume of the corn reserves in the future.

The slight growth of corn prices has made a market trend, which can benefit China's corn production and protect farmers' interests.