HAMBURG: South Korea’s largest animal feed maker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) purchased about 65,000 tonnes of corn in a private deal on Tuesday, bringing reported buying by Korean importers during the day to 330,000 tonnes.

Korean importers including NOFI late last week bought 522,000 tonnes of corn.

Other reported purchases by South Korean buyers on Tuesday were 132,000 tonnes by the Major Feedmill Group (MFG), 68,000 tonnes by the Korea Feed Association (KFA) and 65,000 tonnes by the Feed Leaders Committee (FLC).

“The latest surge in buying seems to be sparked by the sharp fall of almost 3 percent in Chicago corn prices overnight,” one European trader said. “It is also the season of the weather market when prices can shoot up quickly if weather forecasts look unfavourable for the US crop, so some importers seem to be getting some supply cover.”

A buyer in Taiwan is also tendering on Wednesday to buy up to 65,000 tonnes of corn.

NOFI’s corn was bought on Tuesday at some $216.71 a tonne c&f plus an additional $1.25 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading.—Reuters