China, the world's second-biggest corn consumer, will produce 4.1 percent less corn in the 12 months ending in September 2017, and imports will plunge 68.8 percent in the same period, according to forecasts from the country's agriculture ministry.
Corn production will fall to 215.3 million tonnes while imports will be at 1 million tonnes for the 2016/2017 period. The imports are down from 3.2 million in the previous year while production dropped from 224.6 million, the ministry's latest China Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report showed, issued at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.