According to the market operators, in December 2013 the imports of maize to China totaled 0.82 mln tonnes, which significantly exceeded the results of the same period in 2012 (266 thsd tonnes). Thus, the share of US maize supplies to China totaled 640 thsd tonnes (239 thsd tonnes). Ukrainian maize formed another 109 thsd tonnes of the import volumes, but in December 2012 Ukraine did not supply maize on the Chinese market.

Generally, in 2013 China imported 3.27 mln tonnes of maize, which falls compared with the index for the entire 2012 (5.2 mln tonnes). In particular, the import volumes of US maize reached nearly 3 mln tonnes, against 5.1 mln tonnes in the previous year. Ukrainian maize formed another 109 thsd tonnes, and Argentinian maize — 66 thsd tonnes. It is worth noting that in 2012 China did not import Black Sea and South American maize at all, because all permanent purchasing agreements were achieved last year only.

At the same time, the refusal of China to receive several batches of US maize became the main reason of declining of the general imports of the grain in 2013. The general volume of maize, which the country refused to accept, totaled nearly 0.6 mln tonnes, due to identifying of the varieties MIR 162 of GM maize, which is banned for imports.

apk-inform.com