South Korea's largest feedmaker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) purchased around 69,000 tonnes of corn in an international tender which closed on Thursday, European traders said. Some 40,000 tonnes of the corn was bought at the flat price of around $199.15 a tonne c&f and 29,000 tonnes were bought at a premium of $1.34 over the Chicago December corn contract.

Both have an extra $1.25 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading. The seller was said to be trading house Cargill. The corn can be sourced from optional origins for arrival in South Korea around Feb. 1, 2020.

Shipment was sought between Dec. 20, 2019 and Jan. 18, 2020 if the corn is sourced from the US Pacific Northwest coast, between Nov. 30, 2019 and Dec. 29, 2019 if sourced from the US Gulf or east Europe, between Nov. 25, 2019 and Dec. 24 2019 if from South America and between Dec. 5, 2019 and Jan. 4, 2020 if from South Africa.

Chicago corn futures hit three-month lows on Wednesday before rebounding as the market assessed the size of the upcoming US corn harvest after heavy rains and floods disrupted plantings this spring.

Copyright Reuters, 2019