September 16, 2003
East Asia Grain Importers Keen On Corn, Wheat, Soymeal
East Asian grain markets are expected to be active with many regular tenders to buy corn, milling wheat, soymeal and rice this week, South Korean and Taiwanese traders said on Tuesday.
South Korea's Nonghyup Feed Inc is likely to issue a tender this week to buy four 12,500-tonne lots of cornfeed due to be shipped in early November, late November, early December and late December to the port of Mokpo, traders said.
Nonghyup Feed needs to buy two 25,000-tonne lots of corn each for early and late November shipment to Kunsan, traders said.
TS Corp has issued a tender to buy 25,000 tonnes of Chinese corn for feed for November 20 arrival. The corn tender will close at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Almost all South Korean feed makers have completed importing panamax-sized corn cargoes -- 52,000 tonnes to 55,000 tonnes -- for this year's shipment, traders said.
Many feed makers struck the import deals via private negotiations with mostly Chinese grown corn owing to price competitiveness and market availability, traders said.
For U.S. corn, Taiwan's Great Wall Feed Group will tender on Tuesday for 56,000 tonnes, traders said.
In the milling wheat markets, Daehan Flour Mills Co Ltd is seeking 8,500 tonnes of U.S. No.1 wheat via a tender for shipment between November 5 and December 5. The tender will close at 0500 GMT on Wednesday.
Other flour millers in South Korea, like Dongah Flour Mills Co Ltd and CJ Corp, plan to issue joint tenders to buy U.S. No.1 wheat for shipment between late October and late November to the port of Pusan, traders said. They were now estimating the amount to seek in the upcoming tenders, traders added.
The Korea Feed Association may seek soymeal for feed production later this week, some traders said.
As announced recently, South Korea's Agricultural and Fishery Marketing Corp would close tenders on Thursday to buy a total of 35,000 tonnes of brown rice -- 20,000 tonnes of medium-grain rice and 15,000 tonnes of long-grain rice.
The state-run Public Procurement Service would close a tender to buy 20,000 tonnes of short-grain brown rice on Friday.
