China is the world's second biggest corn consumer and pests and typhoons have damaged the crop in the main growing areas in the north-east, Bai Haifeng, a division chief with state-owned China Grain Reserves Corp (Sinograin), told a grains conference. Excess moisture could also damage quality, he added. Sinograin now expects China's corn production this year to grow by 5.1 million tonnes, Bai said, less than the National Bureau of Statistics which had forecast total national output to rise by 15.34 million tonnes on the year to a record 208 million tonnes.
"There will be a small deficit in the year, which will lead to a decline in year-end stocks, but stocks will still be maintained at a high level," Bai said, without giving specific figures. Corn processors will consume 58 million tonnes of corn, Bai said, an increase from previous months. A recent rise in domestic wheat prices will also encourage more animal feed mills to use corn instead, he added.