China's large imports of corn on the global market prompted the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to “undertake a further review of its maize supply and demand balance sheet for China.”
The big imports and high domestic prices, FAO said, “point to much higher feed utilization in China than earlier anticipated, and hence a much greater drawdown of stocks than earlier estimates suggested.” FAO said their review resulted in changes to China's balance sheet starting from the 2013-14 season.
The FAO raised its global corn utilization forecast for 2020-21 to 1.179 billion metric tons, up 21.4 mmt from 2019/20, with China's use pegged at 190 mmt, up 15.5 mmt from December. China's 2020-21 corn carryover is now pegged at around 139 mmt, down nearly 54 mmt from December.
The agency puts China's corn imports at 20 mmt, up 10 mmt from December. “The revision reflects exceptionally large purchases in recent weeks, primarily from the United States of America,” FAO said.
Attention now shifts to USDA's WASDE report February 9 where the agency has maintained its forecast for Chinese imports of corn at 17.5 mmt. The U.S. ag attache in Beijing is carrying a China 2020-21 corn import figure of 22 mmt.