SE Asian grain trade quiet despite Chinese offers

SE Asian grain trade quiet despite Chinese offers

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The Southeast Asian grains and oilseeds business was quiet this week with Indonesian feedmills sitting on the sidelines in a lukewarm response to current Chinese corn offers, traders said yesterday.

"I think most people are quite well-stocked until May or so," said the purchasing manager at a flour mill in Kuala Lumpur.

"Unless there's some bargains coming up, I don't think there'll be much short-covering."

"The market was quiet with no new orders seen this week. Most feedmill producers were also sidelined," a Bangkok-based trader added.

Traders in Indonesia said there had been offers of Chinese corn at US$152-$155 a ton C&F but there had been no takers.

"Imported corn is continuing to arrive, and the imports will continue to arrive through the month," one trader in Indonesia said.

"Feedmills are well stocked, and are staying quiet."

"Although the Chinese corn is slightly cheaper than U.S. corn, buyers have not been showing interest because they have booked their orders earlier," another trader in Jakarta said.

The harvest in the key growing region of Lampung in South Sumatra was proceeding although arrivals were expected to slow down later this month, a trader said.

Corn was quoted by the trade at 405-410 rupiah a kg in Jakarta against 410-415 rupiah a kg last week.

Soymeal prices were generally stable on steady demand, with India continuing to make offers.

"Demand is there, but there has been no significant movements in price," one Indonesian-based dealer said.

Traders said soymeal was stable at 830-840 rupiah a kg. In Thailand, most feedmills have not yet imported corn despite Bangkok's approval to allow the duty-free importation of 200,000 tons in 1997, traders said.

"There are no orders to import corn under the quota yet. The market is awaiting a clearer government policy on the import quota and corn prices in overseas markets remain higher than domestic prices," the trader said.

Corn prices were seen at between 4.46-4.65 baht a kg from 4.50-4.65 baht last week.

A trader in Malaysia said the next upturn in demand would probably be around July/August when the new U.S. corn crop becomes available.

Malaysian-based traders estimated corn purchases since the beginning of the year at around 150,000-200,000 tons. Most of the corn came from China, which was still making fresh sales to Asian buyers, traders said.