China's grain policy will have a lasting impact on grain imports

According to the research firm BMI Research, the reform of China's grain policy will have a lasting impact on grain imports in the coming years.

BMI Research said that in September this year the Chinese government decided to lower the corn purchase price, which caused domestic corn prices to fall, making import prices less attractive, and combined with the government's plan to sell its enormous corn reserves to the domestic market, this will cause China's imports to decrease in 2016/17.

The agency added that BMI expects the growth rate of China's corn production to be constrained by the cut in the support price, and that from 2016/17 onward corn production will slow markedly. The widening corn supply gap will cause corn imports to accelerate again in two or three years.