Grain Consumption in February

By CnAgri2013-04-01 11:26:27 Print China’s grain consumption for food use was estimated to be 20.241 million MT in February, a drop of 0.12% on the year-on-year basis, attributable to increased livestock product consumption. The food-use grain consumption consisted of 7.509 million MT consumed by rural households, 3.676 million MT by urban households and 9.055 million MT by the catering industry.
 
Grain consumption for feed production was estimated to be 11.72 million MT in February, down 6.63% from the month before but up 1.75% on the year-on-year basis.
 
Grain consumption for liquor production was estimated to be 3.509 million MT in February, down 6.65% from the month before but up 1.33% on the year-on-year basis.
 
Distilled spirit production was 1.033 million kiloliters in February, down 5.8% from the month before and down 2.09% on the year-on-year basis. Fermented alcohol production was 764,500 kiloliters in February, down 2.9% from the month before but up 6.11% on the year-on-year basis.
 
Calculating at grain consumption of 3.2 tons for each ton of liquor, 2.987 million MT grains were consumed for liquor production in February, down 3.95% from the month before but up 0.1% on the year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, 522,200 MT grains were consumed for beer production.
 
Grain consumption for deep-processed grain products was estimated to be 6.977 million MT in February, up 2.11% over the month before and up 1.16% on the year-on-year basis. The arrival of large quantities of new corn and cheap US corn in the market promoted the production of deep-processed corn products.
 
Corn, starch and ethanol prices registered RMB2,409/MT, RMB2,977/MT and RMB6,137/MT respectively in February, down 1.15%, up 1.38% and up 0.06% respectively against the month before, up 5.49%, up 3.12% but down 8.29% respectively on the year-on-year basis, adjusting for currency value change.
 
Starch mills gained a profit of RMB128/MT but ethanol mills suffered a loss of RMB128/MT in February, suggesting a profit rate of 4.31% and –1.3% respectively. As imported corn was much cheaper than domestic corn, the mills that lived on imported corn enjoyed considerable profit.
 
3.47 million MT grains were consumed for the production of 2.32 million MT starch in February. Starch production may be affected in the next few months by the recent US anti-dumping investigation.
 
Grain consumption for various uses was estimated to be 41.408 million MT in February. Grain inventory was 416 million MT at the end of February, suggesting a monthly consumption index of 10.08, slightly higher than the same period of last year.
 
Grain inventory in February consisted of 151 million MT paddy, 157 million MT corn, 65.19 million MT wheat, 1.082 million MT barley and 40.696 million MT others.
 
Grain procurement totaled 172 million MT in 2012/2013 by February, of which 80 million MT were procured by state-run companies. Of the grain inventory in February, 125 million MT were state reserve, 174 million MT on-farm stock and 75.77 million MT other companies’ stock. Farmers sold 74.33% of their grains by February, slightly less than the same period of last year.
 
Grain production was 589.57 million MT in 2012. Grain imports registered 11.79 million MT between May of 2012 and February of 2013 and are predicted to reach 13 million MT by the end of 2012/2013. Grain exports are estimated to be 470,000 MT in the year. Grain consumption is predicted to be 582 million MT in the crop year. While grain consumption for food use may go steady, consumption for feed production and industrial uses may go up. Year-end grain inventory is predicted to be 230 million MT, suggesting a safety index of 39.3%.

From “China Grains Market Weekly Report”