September 15, 2010

China may import one million-tonne corn in 2011

China is likely to import around one million tonnes of corn next year to meet the rapidly expanding demand for feed grains, a US analyst said Tuesday (Sep 14).

"I don't expect imports to be more than one million tonnes in 2011, unless they have problems with the crop," said John Baize, president of John C. Baize and Associates, ahead of a regional grains conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

Surprise purchases this year by the world's No. 2 consumer of the feed grain, and strong demand following lower feed wheat availability from the drought-hit Black Sea region, have driven up corn prices by more than 30% since June.

China has already bought 1.3 million tonnes of corn this year, the highest volume in 15 years, most of which was sourced from top exporter the US and reflects a softer stance towards genetically-modified US corn.