June 24, 2009

South Korea, the world's third-largest corn buyer, reduced corn imports by 36 percent to 2.7 million tonnes in the first five months of 2009, according to industry data.

Corn imports for feed production, which accounted for 80 percent of the total purchase, dropped 36 percent to 2.2 million tonnes, while imports of food-grade corn tumbled 37 percent to 435,801 tonnes, said data from the Korea International Trade Association.

The largest feed corn supplier was the US, shipping 1.6 million tonnes to South Korea. The second largest supplier was Brazil, providing nearly 500,000 tonnes.