March 3, 2009

Japan has imported at least 5,000 tonnes of corn for feed use from Romania of the Black Sea region, the first since 1998, according to government trade data.

The corn was imported from Romania, and the amount is part of a shipment of 42,000 tonnes, a Tokyo-based feed corn trader said.

Traders said more cargoes from Black Sea producers, including Ukraine, also arrived in February.

Black Sea prices on a cost-and-freight basis late last year were about 10-percent lower than those from the US, the main corn supplier to Japan, due to bumper harvests in the region and a fall in ocean freight rates.

A trader said depending on prices after harvest, importers are interested to diversify suppliers and the Black Sea could become a third supplier after the US and South America.

Japan is expected to buy less corn from the US for feed use this year partly due to a fall in domestic feed demand as a result of anticipated increase in meat imports.

Some traders also said the lower-than-expected quality of US corn from the previous harvest could make feed makers think twice before relying as much on US corn before.

Feed makers have complained of lower protein, higher water content and more foreign matter than usual in US corn from last year's harvest, traders said.

Japan grows hardly any corn and is reliant on imports. Japan imported 10.7 million tonnes of corn for feed use last year, of which 10.6 million tonnes came from the US. Total corn imports fell 9.8 percent on-year, while imports from the US dropped to the lowest since 1998 with a 4 percent on-year decline.