Zen-Noh, Japan's largest corn buyer, will cut U.S. feed grain imports by 6 percent this year as it diversifies supply to avoid shortages as farmers sell more of their crops for use as biofuel.
The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, known as Zen-Noh, plans to import 4.42 million metric tons of U.S. corn and other feed grains in the year ending next March 31, compared with 4.71 million tons in the past year, Tomihiko Tagawa, a manager at Zen-Noh's feed sales and development section, said in an interview.
The reduction in purchases from the U.S., the supplier of more than 95 percent of Japan's total corn imports, opens the door to increased feed grain shipments from other nations, including corn from Argentina and wheat and barley from Australia and Canada, Tagawa said. Japan is the largest overseas buyer of U.S. corn, and Zen-Noh purchases almost 7 percent of total U.S. exports of the grain.