Some South Korean importers are planning tenders for milling wheat and soyabeans this week, but feed makers are keeping to the sidelines discouraged by firm Chicago Board of Trade grain prices, traders said on Tuesday.
With a shortage of Chinese corn, prices from other origins were too high, traders said, but wheat prices were at a suitable level.
"We will watch price movements one more day before issuing a tender," one flour miller told Reuters.
"We haven't got the amount we would buy for the next shipment but the current price levels are good enough to try one cargo," another flour miller said.
Last on Thursday, Dongah Flour Mills Co Ltd and CJ Corp jointly bought 24,100 tonnes of US No 1 wheat from Columbia Grain International (CGI) for shipment between April 10 and May 10 to the port of Pusan.
South Korea imported almost 2.4 million tonnes of milling wheat in 2003, compared with 2.2 million tonnes a year, data from the Korea Trade Information Services (KOTIS) showed.
Of the total, more than 1.3 million tonnes came from the United States, 882,825 tonnes from Australia and 145,453 tonnes from Canada.
In the soyabean markets, CJ Corp is expected to reissue tenders to buy 52,500 tonnes of Brazilian soyabeans and another 52,500 tonnes of US No 2 soyabeans after passing on the two tenders last on Friday, traders said.
Shipment for the Brazilian origin was due between June 1 and June 30, departing from Santos, Tubarao or Sao Luis ports. Shipments for the US soyabeans were due between July 10 and 30, if sourced from the US Gulf, and between July 20 and August 10 from Pacific Northwest.
South Korea last year imported 1,508,333 tonnes of soyabeans for oil crushing and feed production, up 2.3 percent from a year, the KOTIS data showed.
Of the total, almost 80 percent came from the United States.
South Korea imported 311,522 tonnes of soyabeans in 2003 for food processing, up 8.7 percent from a year, with 82 percent of the total coming from the United States.
The state-run Agricultural and Fishery Marketing Corporation (AFMC) has been delaying its tenders to buy edible non-genetically modified (non-GM) soyabeans due to bullish price movements, a company official said.
CBOT soyabeans ended higher in Chicago on Monday after rallying to a 15-1/2-year peak on worries about South America's crop and signs of good demand for US soyabeans from China.
Most active CBOT May soyabean futures had fallen 3-1/4 cents per bushel to $9.54-1/4 in Asian trade.
CBOT corn futures ended mixed with the nearby months off on light profit taking after setting a fresh 6-1/2 year high and almost unchanged in Asian trade on Tuesday. Korean markets were closed on Monday for a national holiday.