November 12, 2009

India offers new corn crop; importers reluctant to buy

India is offering its new corn crop to its traditional customers in Southeast Asia, but buyers are reluctant to purchase due to doubts about the quality of the flood-damaged crop, according to traders on Wednesday (Nov 11).

Indian corn is quoted between US$210 and US$216, including cost and freight, to Malaysia. But only a few deals have taken place as most millers prefer to buy from Thailand, Pakistan and Brazil.

A Singapore-based trader who sells Indian and South American corn to Asia said they are not selling Indian corn because they are not sure about the quality. He said they will examine the first few containers that arrive and decide on making their offers.

India's summer corn crop production is expected to drop 9.3 percent to 12.61 million tonnes due to patchy monsoon rains. But the biggest problem occurred after floods, which were described by officials as the worst in a century, ravaged crops in the major producing states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Quality is a major problem, but the quality standard will only be known after the grains dry up a couple of weeks later, said a New Delhi-based corn exporter.

Pakistan offers corn at around US$200 to US$205 per tonne C&F in containers, while Thailand is offering at US$215 in bulk, said regional traders.

In the past week, Pakistan has sold about 15,000 tonnes to Southeast Asia while Thailand has exported about 20,000 tonnes.

But a Singapore-based trader defended Indian corn against Thai and Pakistani corn, saying buyers just wanted to see a few cargoes before making their decision.