HAMBURG: South Korea’s largest animal feed maker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) on Wednesday made no purchase in an international tender to buy up to 138,000 tonnes of corn but bought 65,000 tonnes of animal feed wheat, European traders said.

Corn prices were regarded as too high, they said.

The feed wheat was all said to have been bought at $286.39 a tonne c&f plus a $1.25 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading, traders said.

Wheat seller was believed to be trading house Viterra.

The feed wheat was sought in one 40,000 to 60,000 tonne consignment for arrival in South Korea around Nov. 5.

Wheat shipment was sought from the US Pacific Northwest coast/ Australia/Canada for Oct. 3-22, from the US Gulf or East Europe/Black Sea for Sept. 13 to Oct. 2 or from South America between Sept 8-27. The corn had been sought in two consignments for arrival in November and December.

Chicago corn futures fell by the daily limit on Tuesday as forecasts for cooler, wetter US weather eased concerns about the condition of US crops, but rose again on Wednesday.

South Korea’s Major Feedmill Group (MFG) also purchased about 65,000 tonnes of feed wheat in a private deal late on Tuesday, with wheat prices currently looking more attractive than corn, traders said.