China’s corn imports set to reach record levels this year, as high prices boost demand for substitutes
- Between January and May, China imported 11.73 million tonnes of corn, surpassing last year’s total of 11.3 million tonnes
- Beijing has been encouraging farmers to grow more animal feed and urging livestock producers to diversify from corn and soybeans
China’s corn imports are tipped to reach a record high this year, but elevated prices for the widely-used animal feed are also boosting demand for alternative grains, analysts said.
The world’s largest importer of corn bought a total of 3.16 million tonnes from around the world in May, a 395.3 per cent jump from the same period last year, and up from 1.85 million tonnes in April, according Chinese customs data released last week.
Between January and May, it imported 11.73 million tonnes of corn, surpassing last year’s total of 11.3 million tonnes.
Analysts expect China’s corn imports for the 2020-21 season to hit record levels, and exceed the annual low-tariff quota of 7.2 million tonnes in the 2021-22 season for the second consecutive year.
“Our projection for China’s imports for the marketing year ending September 2021 is 29 million tonnes, which will be the largest annual volume ever sourced by a single importer of maize,” said Alexander Karavaytsev, an economist with the London-based International Grains Council.
