April 5, 2007

China corn prices little changed

China's corn prices in major producing regions remained steady in the week to Wednesday, with market sentiment little changed by volatile futures prices, traders said.

A Beijing-based traded noted that changes in futures prices were basically due to speculative money. On the domestic spot market, market sentiment remained stable as supply and demand were little changed, the trader added.

In Jilin, China's largest corn-producing province, prices of average quality corn were quoted at CNY1,040-CNY1,080 a metric ton, unchanged from a week earlier.

Prices in Heilongjiang province, another major corn producing region in the northeast, were also unchanged at CNY1,000-CNY1,040/ton.

Processing plants in the north-east are still buying steadily, with no factors to pressure prices sharply higher or lower, said a trader at Jilin Grains Centre.

Although the futures market is expected to fluctuate, cash prices will likely remain relatively stable in April.

The benchmark September corn contract traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled 2.0 percent lower Monday, after the US Department of Agriculture released a report Friday pegging 2007 corn seedings at 90.454 million acres, sharply higher than the 78.327 million acres in 2006.

Meanwhile, the China National Grain and Oils Information Center, or CNGOIC, Wednesday raised its 2007 forecast for corn acreage to 27.6 million hectares, 200,000 hectares higher than its March estimates, and estimated output to rise by 1 million tonnes to 147 million tonnes.