Corn production reaches highest levels in China

Corn production in China is expected to rise by 3% compared to 2009 levels, reaching 182.5 million tonnes this year – the highest ever recorded volume in the nation.

Despite this record high, corn imports are likely to remain necessary and continue to grow steadily throughout the next few years. This can be attributed to an increasing domestic demand for corn in the animal feed and processing industries.

Annually, the nation consumes 105 million tonnes of corn for animal feed, but this is expected to increase as the country's consumption of meat grows. Between 60 and 70 million tonnes are used to produce products such as ethanol, starch and citric acid.

There is also an increased need for corn imports as China's consumption of ethanol becomes more significant.