(Yicai) Jan. 19 -- China’s imports of grain rose 12 percent last year to 162 million tons, amid a drop in prices and strong demand for pig feed.

Last month’s imports jumped 38 percent from a year ago to 18.27 million tons, statistics from the General Administration of Customs also showed.

Imports of rice and sorghum bucked the trend by dipping in 2023, but other grains such as corn were imported in larger quantities. Corn imports reached 4.95 million tons last month, up 38 percent from November and up 471 percent from a year earlier. Total corn imports in 2023 were 27.13 million tons, up 32 percent from 2022.

Corn imports started surging from last September, Securities Times reported today, citing Zheng Wenhui, a grain economy researcher at Guangdong South China Grain Trading Center. Corn imports totaled 12.21 million tons from September to December, taking up 45 percent of last year’s total.

The major reason was higher imports of corn from Brazil, Zheng noted. Brazil was not previously an important corn supplier to China, but after its product passed quality inspections in China, traders hiked shipments from the country.

The overall reason for higher grain imports is that grain from overseas is cheaper. The prices of all varieties of grain except rice fell globally last year, but the drop overseas was bigger than in China, making imports more profitable.

The surge also came despite the fact that China had a plentiful harvest in 2023. The key reason for this was strong demand for feed for a large number of live pigs, Zheng said. For example, imports of soybeans, which are mainly used for oil extraction and feed, rose 11 percent to 99.41 million tons last year from 2022. 

Editor: Tom Litting