India makes biggest corn sales to Indonesia in recent times
12 Mar 2011
Singapore: India has made some of the biggest sales of corn to Indonesia in at least two years, having sold around 100,000 tonnes of the grain in recent deals, traders said. There existed good demand for Indian corn at the moment, they said.
According to market traders, Indonesia had purchased 100,000 tonnes from India in the last three to four weeks. In the most recent deal, Indonesian feed mills bought 10,000 tonnes of Indian corn at $312 a tonne, including cost and freight.
On an average deals over the past few weeks have been struck between $290 and $315 a tonne, C&F.
Reports said vessels meant to load some 70,000 tonnes of corn were already lined up at Kakinada port in southern India for Indonesia.
Indonesia has said corn production was down two per cent this year, at 17.93 million tonnes, from last year. The country expects to import more than two million tonnes of corn this year, up from an estimated 1.5 million tonnes in 2010, according to the chairman of the Indonesian Feed Mill Association.
There was loss in production as corn-producing areas in Indonesia suffered failed harvests because of bad weather. Rising animal feed production, however, has boosted corn demand.
As of Thursday, Indian corn was quoted around $320 a tonne C&F to Southeast Asia.
