May 21, 2010

China's Cofco buys US corn from Cargill

Cofco Ltd., a Chinese grain trader, has bought two cargoes of US corn from Cargill Inc. this week.

The corn will be shipped in July and August and the price is less than US$240 a tonne, said the company's executives.

Cofco has used all the 500,000 tonnes of import quotas authorised by the government and whether more will be issued has not been determined yet.

According to one industry source, feed mills and other corn users are also in discussions with suppliers and total transactions may round up to 1.5 million tonnes.

The state-owned Cofco paid about US$230 per tonne for the US corn.