China Corn Imports Skyrocket

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|25 May 2010

BEIJING, China — China’s Zeng Liying, deputy director of the State Administration of Grain, announced the nation has issued 2.8 million tonnes of corn import quotas this year to the private sector, reports Bloomberg. In its largest purchase of US corn in 14 years, China has booked almost 1 million tonnes already, and could increase that amount. The US Department of Agriculture reports that China has purchased about 600,000 tonnes of US corn in the past month.

China had a smaller corn crop last year due to drought, and has experienced planting delays this year.

The International Grains Council predicts global corn production to increase 1.9% over last year to a record 822 million tonnes for the year through June 2011.

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