July 4, 2007

China may export corn as drought damage minimal

China is seen to allow more corn exports this year as damage from drought is quite small, an executive from Jilin Grain Group (JGG), one of the country's two authorised exporters, said on Tuesday (July 3).

Jiang Jian Hua, vice chairman of JGG based in Jilin province, one of the country's top corn-producing, said Beijing might allow more exports this month or in August when the outlook for 2007 crop becomes likely to become clearer.

He also said China was unlikely to import corn in the next two years despite the fact that it would possibly import in the future as the country would be unable to cover demand.

Jiang said China was likely to have a corn surplus of 4.48 million tonnes in the current marketing year, with the 2007 crop expected to reach a record high of 147 million tonnes, up from 145.5 million last year.

Beijing cleared the first batch of 2007 corn export quotas of about 1.4 million tonnes early this year, though it was unclear if it would go ahead with its plan to hand out the second batch estimated at 1.6 million tonnes, due to recent high corn prices.