China issues new policies to stimulate corn export

Lead: Shanghai, April 1 (Reuters) - the Chinese government may introduce new corn policies this month to stimulate corn sales and replace direct export subsidies, officials said Monday As a result of China's accession to the world trade organization, corn export subsidies were cancelled in accordance with WTO rules Officials said the policy, which includes exemption from railway construction fees, lower transportation costs and VAT, is likely to help exporters regain most of the original export subsidy of 400 yuan per ton An official at Jilin grain group said the previous export subsidy system was abolished at the end of February and the Chinese government was working on new policies JGG is one of two government authorized corn exporters The other is COFCO The market has been expecting from the beginning of this year that the Chinese government will take measures to stimulate exports, which officials from major grain producing regions said would be announced in April Some traders expect China to export 6.5 million tons of corn in 2002, compared with 6 million tons last year China has been trying to encourage corn exports to reduce its huge inventory in order to prepare for the massive import of corn with low tariffs after China's accession to the WTO Jilin is the most important corn production and export province in China It is said that the shipment volume of corn this year is 4 million-4.5 million tons However, dealers believe that the figure of 4 million-4.5 million tons is too high due to the delay of the policy and the fact that the price of corn has been hovering around the new low On Thursday, corn futures on the Chicago Board of trade (CBOT) fell about 3 cents per bushel in several sessions, hitting a new low on the back of bad US acreage and inventory data Corn hit a low of $2.01 a bushel in May, down from an intraday low of $2.03 last Monday CBOT closed Friday due to Easter * corn prices slide into new lows Due to the sluggish world corn market, although some exporters are hesitant due to the delay in the announcement of new policies, most of China's corn exporters have started to provide corn exports at low prices COFCO's FOB offer was $98 per ton, down from $110 in early March, officials at COFCO said On Friday, South Korea's main feed processing group (MFG) bought 52000 tonnes of Chinese corn at a CNF price of $100.98 a tonne Referring to the South Korean bid, Kyrgyz officials said the price was too low for Kyrgyz According to traders from state-owned enterprises, the FOB price of Heilongjiang corn provided by COFCO is US $100 to US $102 per ton In June, Heilongjiang Province is located in Northeast China and another major corn production area in China But traders doubt there will be buyers if Heilongjiang does not lower its price A trader from an international grain company said that if China could always provide CNF with $100 per ton of corn, its corn would be very competitive China's corn exports are expected to grow this year, but production is likely to be affected by the worst drought in Jilin Province in 20 years Traders said that China's huge corn inventory, expected to total 40-60 million tons, is likely to keep its corn sales going, although the export of corn may be affected by the delay in the release of its new policy Traders in Heilongjiang said China would lose a share of the world market in June because of the lack of new policies, which would lead to a decline in China's corn exports this year Traders say China still needs to straighten out new policies, including grain storage costs Traders in Heilongjiang said the cancellation of railway construction fees had little impact on the overall price, saving less than 100 yuan But eliminating the 13% VAT is a good way, but so far China has not made a final decision on other policies, including the abolition of grain storage costs Note: 1 USD = 8.28 yuan (author:) to feed Weibo to: