HAMBURG: South Korea's largest feedmaker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) purchased around 68,000 tonnes of corn to be sourced from optional origins in an international tender which closed on Wednesday, European traders said.
The corn was purchased at $187.78 a tonne c&f plus a $1.00 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading.
No purchase was made of two other consignments of up to 69,000 tonnes also sought by NOFI, traders said.
The 68,000 tonnes was bought from trading house CHS, they said. Traders said they suspected the corn was likely to be sourced from the United States or South America.
The yellow corn purchased was for 2018 shipment between Feb. 15 to March 6 if sourced from the US Pacific North West Coast or from Jan. 26 to Feb. 14 if from the US Gulf.
If sourced from South America, shipment is between Jan. 21 and Feb. 19. Arrival in South Korea from all origins should be around March 20.
"It looks like some importers are snapping up some bargains after Tuesday's corn price fall but are hoping for even cheaper purchases in coming weeks as the enormous US corn crop enters world markets," one trader said.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures dropped 1.4 percent to a one-year low on Tuesday, weighed down by plentiful supplies as a massive US harvest with record-large yields approaches its end.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Monday in its weekly crop report that the US corn harvest was around 83 percent complete.
South Korean group MFG is also tendering to import corn on Wednesday.
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