The State Development Commission and the Ministry of Commerce have recently issued a notice, requiring grain import quota holders to return unused quotas before Sept. 15 for redistribution.
BOABC holds that the redistribution of grain import quotas has little impact on grain imports. China has an abundant grain stock, having little need to import grains. Moreover, international grain price is far above the domestic price.
China’s annual wheat import quota is 9.636 million MT. The maximum imports were 7.23 million MT made in 2004. There were almost no wheat imports in the first half of 2008.
China has been a net corn exporter in recent years. The nation’s corn import quota is 7.2 million MT a year. The maximum imports were 65,000 MT made in 2006. The first half of 2008 saw 8,451 MT imports.
Corn import quota is 5.32 million MT a year. The maximum imports were 719,000 MT made in 2004. The first half of 2008 saw 214,000 MT imports. The bulk of the imports were indica from Southeast Asia.
