Japan buys 600,000 tonnes corn in November for Q1 delivery

 

 

Japanese buyers have bought 600,000 tonnes corn so far in November, as the country began its imports for the first quarter of 2009 this month, a senior official in a Tokyo-based grains broking firm said Friday (November 28).

 

The official, who didn't wish to be named, said Japanese buyers have - for the first time - bought 75,000-90,000 tonnes corn of Ukraine origin as part of their imports this month. The corn is to be delivered in Japan in January or February.

 

While US-origin corn costs around US$195/tonne, cost and freight included, the Ukraine-origin corn was bought around US$180/tonne.

 

"While corn with broken kernels can be used for feeding chickens, it's not much good as cattle feed," said the official.

 

Meantime, Japanese buyers are in no hurry to complete their purchase of 4 million tonnes of targeted corn imports for the first quarter of 2009, as they expect Chicago Board of Trade corn futures to fall further.

 

"Besides, ocean freight costs too may fall more, despite having already fallen a lot in the past few months," the official added.

 

He said Japanese buyers will likely conclude their first quarter 2009 corn imports only by mid-February.

 

Japan is the world's biggest corn importer and buys most of its corn from the US.