BEIJING: Chinese corn imports are expected fall by more than half next year due to high US prices, and a rise in overall consumption will put domestic supplies under more pressure despite another record harvest, according to an official forecast on Wednesday.
The China National Grain and Oils Information Center (CNGOIC) said imports by the world's second largest corn consuming nation are expected to fall to 2.4 million tonnes in the 12 months ending in September 2013, down 54 percent on the year, after a drought-driven price surge caused a halt in purchases from the United States.
Meanwhile, consumption was expected to rise 9.6 percent to 205.6 million tonnes as a result of an expansion in hog herds. China's domestic corn harvest rose 8 percent this year to a record 208.13 million tonnes.
CNGOIC said China was unlikely to import any corn at all until April 2013, depending on domestic and overseas prices.
The worst drought in decades in the United States, the world's top exporter, has driven up US corn prices , which are around 4 percent higher than domestic corn prices quoted in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Domestic corn prices weakened after the record harvest, and corn processors have kept production relatively low as a result of poor sales of downstream products such as starch and alcohol.
China will import corn from Argentina and Ukraine on a trial basis during the year, CNGOIC said. A Chinese feed mill in the northern province of Shandong has bought 48 tonnes of Argentina corn which cleared customs in November, traders said..
In September, the CNGOIC said corn imports in calendar 2013 may plunge more than 80 percent from this year's estimated purchases to a total of 1 million tonnes.
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