July 23, 2015

China has witnessed incoming corn shipments of 872,928 tonnes in June this year, a jump from the 404,102 tonnes volume seen in May. The amount represents the mainland's biggest monthly corn import in at least 10 years, just before US prices for the grain rose.

According to Bloomberg, cheaper prices of international supplies had prompted an apparent scramble in the purchasing of some grains. In the second quarter, China's quota on deliveries was close to being exhausted completely by importers, Cherry Zhang, an analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., said.

Nobuyuki Chino, the president of Continental Rice Corp., attributed the Chinese rush on corn-buying to costlier local corn in China.

The China National Grain & Oils Information Center expects the country to receive four million tonnes of corn in 2015.

In June last year, imports of corn into China recorded 27,330 tonnes in volume. Corn-buying dropped 20% in 2014 following a scandal involving the discovery of unapproved corn products developed by Syngenta, in some cargoes.