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Corn Futures

About Corn Futures

Almost all corn consumed in Japan is imported from foreign countries, mainly from the US. About 70% of the corn is consumed as feed and the rest is consumed as food. As for feed, 80% is used as raw material for compound feed for pigs, dairy cows, beef cattle, and poultry. As for food,70% is processed into corn starch used for saccharification of glucose, starch syrup and isomerized sugar, or fiber, paper paste, and other food ingredients. The remaining 30% is processed into grit which is used as fermentation raw material for distilled liquor and beer. It is also used as a raw material for confectioneries such as corn flakes and popcorn, or miso.
Corn prices are heavily influenced by the yield from the Corn Belt, a major production area in the US. Attention must be paid on exchange rates and freight rates, trends in soybeans and wheat that could be replaced as corn is an imported product. In addition to trends in inventory rates and exports announced by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), attention must be paid to bioethanol demand, which is influenced by crude oil prices recently.