China has bought around 10 to 12 cargoes of mainly U.S. corn imports during the past month and is likely to increase purchases. A record difference between domestic and international prices is encouraging buyers to seek out cheap imports, three trade sources said.
Imports by the world’s second-largest corn consumer had plunged in the second half of last year, when domestic supplies became much cheaper following a change in farm policy.
However, healthy demand for animal feed and industrial processing, and concerns over shortage of supply have kept Chinese prices relatively high for much of this year, and a rally in recent weeks has helped to increase the difference with Chicago corn prices to a record.