After staying away from the market for a long time because of high prices and weak demand, Asian grain and oilseed importers are likely to look for corn and soyabeans this week, traders said on Monday.
But holidays in the United States on Monday and in Taiwan on Wednesday are likely to limit volumes, they added. Japanese soyabean buyers are likely to seek soyabeans for July either from the United States or from Brazil, after examining offers and quality.
They have already sealed some deals for July. Japan favours Brazilian soyabeans around this time of the year as they usually have higher average protein and oil content, compared with supplies from the United States, traders said.
In Taiwan, traders are eyeing a tender by the Kaohsiung division of the Breakfast Soyabean Procurement Association, as it had not floated any tender in the past two months. "They have been saying in the last couple of weeks that a tender is in the works, but we haven't seen it yet," said a Taipei-based supplier.
At its last tender, the soya-buying group secured two 60,000-tonne shipments. In South Korea, CJ Corp is likely to seek 55,000 tonnes of South American soyabeans, traders said. In the corn market, Japanese traders are looking for cargoes for the July-September period, with some traders estimating that 40-50 percent of the demand had been covered.
Japanese feed makers require about 3 million tonnes of corn each quarter. Activity was slow last week but is likely to pick up towards the end of this week. "About 60 percent of the buying for the July-September quarter is concluded around this period," one trader said.
South Korean importers, including Nonghyup Feed Inc and the Korea Corn Processing Industry Association, are also expected to seek corn this week. "We will issue a tender this week to buy corn for July shipment," said an official at Nonghyup Feed.
KOCOPIA is likely to re-issue a tender to buy 110,000 tonnes of food-grade, non-genetically modified corn of optional origin. It failed to buy corn two weeks ago due to high prices and a lack of bidders.
The Great Wall Feed Group in Taiwan is also considering purchasing around 60,000 tonnes of US corn, a group official said, although shipment dates and time are yet to be set.
But soyameal buyers are unlikely to be in the market as most buyers had covered their needs until October. Some buyers could look for November arrivals. Last week, the Korea Feed Association bought 110,000 tonnes of South American soyameal for November and December arrivals.
"Feed makers have started to cover needs for November arrival as global soyameal prices are attractive," said a Seoul trader.
In the wheat market, Taiwan's flourmill's Association had sealed a deal to buy 45,530 tonnes of US wheat from Columbia Grain. The cargo is for shipment between June 15-30.
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