Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 06/24/10

By: tomgrisafi

China, the world's second-largest corn consumer, bought six cargoes from the U.S. in the past two weeks, or 360,000 metric tons, bringing purchases to 16 cargoes, or almost 1 million tons, two executives familiar with the transactions said.

State-owned Cofco Ltd. bought three shipments to sell to feed mills, while Jilin Grain Group Co. and two private buyers in southern China bought one each, they said. Each cargo weighs about 60,000 tons, they said, declining to be identified as the trade wasn't public.

Bloomberg News reports that China has booked the most corn imports in 14 years, and is draining domestic stockpiles to cool an 18 percent gain in local prices in the past year. The gap between local and global prices is narrowing, signaling imports may slow, the executives said.

The country is unloading its first shipment of U.S. corn at Longkou port in Shandong province, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The 60,000 metric-ton shipment, sold by Louis Dreyfus & Cie SA to Liuhe Group Co., may take several days to discharge because of delays caused by rain, said the people. Authorities are testing samples during the unloading, they said.

Corn for December delivery in Chicago, currently the most active contract, has increased 5.3 percent in the past two weeks, while the benchmark cash price in the biggest grain port Dalian dropped more than 2 percent to 1,950 yuan ($286) a ton as of yesterday.

Source: Bloomberg, Wisconsin Ag Today