November 29, 2006

 

China traders may export less corn

 

 

Chinese traders are estimated to have exported much less corn in November than earlier expected while December export projections have also been revised lower because of slower arrivals of domestic corn in markets, a report by the commodities analysis firm JCI Shanghai said Wednesday (Nov 29).

 

While traders had earlier expected to export up to 700,000 tonnes of corn in November, actual exports may be around 350,000 tonnes at the most, said JCI.

 

December exports, earlier expected to be around 1.2 million tonnes, may now be 800,000 tonnes at most.

 

Since July, China has contracted corn export orders of around 4.5 million tonnes.

 

After the Chinese government issued fresh export quotas of 4 million tonnes in early November, shipping of corn cargoes started in earnest. The entire 4.5 million tonnes are likely to be shipped out of China between November 2006 and February 2007.

 

A major reason for the lower expected exports in November and December is the difficulty exporters are facing in procuring corn from local markets, said JCI.

 

It added that a large part of the problem arose from the delayed corn planting and harvesting in northeast China. Large-scale harvesting of corn in northeast China has yet to begin, unlike previous years.

 

The firm said that farmers in this part of the country have only sold 5 percent of their new crop so far, compared with up to 15 percent at the same time last year.

 

Harvesting of China's new corn crop began in early November.

 

JCI added that soaring domestic demand and high corn prices in China are also creating problems for exporters in buying sufficient corn to fulfill their existing export commitments.