Chinese importers increase purchases of feed grain due to high domestic corn prices

Chinese buyers have sharply increased their purchases of feed grains in recent months, buying up significant volumes of Australian barley and US sorghum after rains damaged domestic corn crops, trading sources told Reuters.

Importers have booked about 45 shiploads, or at least 2.5 million tonnes, of US sorghum in the past three months, two Asian traders familiar with the deals said. That’s three times more than was shipped in all of 2025.

Chinese buyers have also been buying about 1 million tonnes of Australian barley each month since December — about double the average monthly amount last year, three traders involved in some of the deals said.

“These sales are driven by very high corn prices in China and competitive prices in Australia,” said one grain trader, who expects Chinese demand for barley and sorghum to remain strong in the coming months.

As of Jan. 29, 1.6 million tonnes of U.S. sorghum had been sold to China since the beginning of November, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with 1.259 million tonnes of that being destined for destinations classified as “unknown.”

Most of that sorghum is headed to China, said one trader familiar with the Chinese deals.

In China, the average national corn price this week was about 2,250 yuan ($326.02) per tonne, up about 10% from a year ago, according to Sublime China Information.

Despite a record corn harvest last year, some crops in northern China were damaged by heavy rains during harvest, causing the grain to mold, industry sources said. There is no official estimate of the damage yet.

“The surge in demand for barley and sorghum is largely due to corn quality issues and rising prices,” said Zhen Yanan, senior corn market analyst at Sublime China Information.

She said that from September to November, prolonged rains in key grain-producing regions in northern China led to a deterioration in corn quality.

Tags: China, corn, barley, sorghum