China's corn imports see 56-fold rise in first 7 months of 2010
02.09.2010 11:20 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
China’s agricultural trade deficit rose 62 percent to 13.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2010, and the grain import volume was up by 66 percent, including the corn import volume, which saw a 56-fold increase to 282,000 tons, according to data issued by China’s Ministry of Agriculture on Aug. 31. Meanwhile, domestic corn prices were up by 20 percent from the same period of the previous year.
On top of the surge in corn import volume in the first half, the corn import volume in July reached 194,000 tons, more than double of the gross corn import volume for the first half. However, the current corn import volume has not yet posed an impact on the domestic corn market.
«The corn import volume under contracts signed for 2010 stands at 1.3 million tons, only 1 percent of the expected domestic corn output of 150 to 160 million tons,» Wang Qi, a corn industry analyst at Dalian Yigu Information Consultation Limited, said.
Li Ninghui, director of the Agricultural Policy Research Office under Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, said that apart from poultry farmers’ demand for corn feed, the reasons behind the rise in the corn import volume include that some imported corn was used to produce ethanol-blended gasoline.
Experts said the domestic grain supply and demand will not face any major problems. Following the rally in grain prices in the international market, the high growth momentum for grain imports is expected to be curbed. It is worth noting that corn deep processing has to some degree caused the rise in corn demand and in turn resulted in the rise in corn imports.
Zhang Ping, minister of the National Development and Reform Committee, said during the 16th Session of the 11th NPC Standing Committee on Aug. 26 that it is necessary to prevent and control the blind expansion of corn deep processing capacity and soybean-crushing capacity.
«The grain deep processing industry should be developed in a moderate manner and the use of corn should be prioritized for development of the poultry farming industry,» Zhang said.
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