CHINA DATA: June corn imports up 23% on year at 880,000 mt: customs

New Delhi — China's corn imports in June rose 23% year on year to 880,000 mt, while January-June imports rose 17.6% to 3.66 million mt, data released July 23 by the General Administration of Customs shows.

The increase in imports comes against the backdrop of rising domestic prices and strong demand for corn auctioned by the government from its reserves.

Corn prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled at Yuan 2,220/mt ($317.17/mt) on July 23, up 16% year on year.

Government corn sales by auction reached 17.2 million mt as of June 19 and most of these were sold at a premium, according to the data released by China's National Grain Trade Center.

China has recently stepped up purchases of corn from the US. The US Department of Agriculture has reported at least 3.7 million mt of corn sales to China for the 2020-21 marketing year (September-August).

China is usually not a big buyer of corn from the US. The highest-ever corn exports to China from the US were 5.15 million mt in 2011-12.

Moreover, China allows imports of 7.2 million mt of corn a year through a tariff-rate quota system. Corn imports within the quota attract a duty of 1%. The duty on out-of-quota imports is 65%.

Ukraine has been the main supplier of corn to China under the TRQ so far.