January 10, 2007

 

Grain-buying slow in East Asia

 

 

Asian importers have been going slow in grain buying as they are eyeing CBOT prices, traders said on Tuesday, Jan 9.

 

Grain prices on the CBOT have recently fallen amid fund selling and other falling commodities markets, after surging to multi-year highs late last year.

 

South Korean feed makers bought a small cargo of corn on Monday, Jan 8 and would buy more only when price falls further.

 

Buyers still consider current global corn prices high. They would resume buying only when corn prices fall below US$ 206 per tonne, said a Seoul-based trader.

 

Japanese corn buyers too expressed the same mood. They purchased about 500,000 tonnes for the April-June period out of the average purchase of about 3.1 million tonnes of corn each quarter, a Japanese trader said.

 

They have mostly completed their needs for the January-March period.

 

Japanese soybean buyers have been trying to cover their requirements for March shipments after nearly completing their needs for February.

 

Monthly soybean purchases from Japanese oilseed crushers have totalled about 240,000 to 250,000 tonnes on average this year, amid falling demand as buyers shifted to rapeseed.

 

The buying has been rather slow for March shipments due to weak domestic demand, informed a Japanese soy trader.

 

Taiwan grain buying is also likely to be slow as high soybean prices dampen demand, although millers could be eyeing a wheat tender, traders said.