August 3, 2010

 

Japan cuts back on corn imports amid high global prices

 

 

Japan's corn imports have slowed down due to a recent rise in global prices and traders are waiting for prices to decline.

 

"There is at least a US$6-US$8/tonne gap in price ideas of buyers and sellers and therefore, many importers prefer to wait and watch," said a Tokyo-based executive at a global trading company.

 

He said US corn on a delivered basis is currently being offered to Japan around US$238/tonne, while buyers are looking at rates of US$230-US$232/tonne, cost and freight. South American corn is offered around US$245/tonne.

 

Traders said of Japan's total October-December corn import requirement of around 4.1 million tonnes for both feed and food, barely 1.5 million tonnes worth of purchases have been finalised so far.

 

They said for feed requirement of three million tonnes for the same period, close to 1.1 million tonnes has been purchased. Traders expect prices to decline over the next two weeks and therefore are not in a hurry to buy.