BRASILIA: China has imported a small amount of corn from Brazil since official approval for the purchases went into effect on March 31, the Asian country's ambassador said on Monday.
China's main corn supplier is usually the United States, but shipments were curbed earlier this year after officials turned away some 1 million tonnes due to the presence of a genetically altered strain that was not approved by Beijing.
"So far we are importing a very limited amount of Brazilian corn, but we are optimistic that this will grow," ambassador Li Jinzhang told reporters in Brasilia.
"We think in the future Brazil will become one of the main suppliers of corn to China," he added.
Brazil is already the top exporter of soybean to China, where demand for grains and oilseeds used to feed animals is increasing as citizens eat more protein.
Brazil is expected to export 20 million tonnes of corn and 44.5 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2013/14 crop year, according to estimates by the US Department of Agriculture.
Comments
Comments are closed.