The Korea Feed Association (KFA) bought about 66,000 tonnes of corn in a tender which closed on Wednesday, continuing a surge in Korean animal feed corn purchases which have now reached around 600,000 tonnes in the past two weeks, European traders said. "I think Korean buyers have used the fall in corn prices since late March to get a fair amount of their 2019 supplies purchased," one European trader said. "Prices have started rising again but deals are still being made at attractive levels."
US corn futures tumbled more than 4 percent on Friday in the market's steepest drop in nearly three years, after the US Department of Agriculture estimated US stocks and spring plantings above trade estimates.
The past two weeks have seen a stream of corn purchases by South Korean, both in international tenders and private deals.
Other recent buyers include South Korea's largest feedmaker Nonghyup Feed Inc (NOFI), the Major Feedmill Group and the Feed Leaders Committee.
The corn purchased by the KFA's Busan section on Wednesday can be sourced from optional origins but is expected to come either from the United States or South America.
It was bought in one consignment at $191.25 a tonne c&f plus a $1.00 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading. Seller was said to be trading house Pan Ocean.
The corn is for arrival in South Korea around October 25.
Shipment is sought between September 21 and October 10 if sourced from the US Pacific Northwest Coast, between September 1 and 20 if from the US Gulf or east Europe, between August 27 and September 15 if sourced from South America, or between September 6 and 25 if from South Africa.