July 10, 2006

Vietnam purchases US corn for first time

Vietnam has made its first-ever purchase of US corn, the US Grains Council (USGC) announced Friday (Jul 7).

Lai Thieu, a company with three feed mills in Vietnam bought 5,000 tonnes of US corn for July-August delivery. The company already imports US distiller`s dried grains with solubles and US soy meal and has sales volumes averaging 30,000 tonnes monthly, the council said.

The USGC is excited about the purchase, said Davis Anderson, USGC chairman, adding that with China stopping corn exports, US corn is getting quite competitive.

Vietnam's annual feed production is about 4.5 million tonnes. Domestic corn production of 3 million tonnes is almost exclusively used for feed, according to the council.