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http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=15....
Wednesday, 15 August 2012

BEIJING--China's corn output in 2012 is expected to fall below earlier expectations due to a serious pest infestation which may drive global prices even higher following rises provoked by drought in major producer countries..

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As much as 10% of the land in China planted with corn has been infected by armyworm caterpillars, pests which can lay waste to crops, in what is the most serious infestation in a decade, China's agriculture ministry said.

As of Tuesday, about 3.3 million hectares of farmland, or about a tenth of the area under corn in the world's second-largest consumer of the grain, has been affected, with about 430,000 hectares suffering "serious" infestation, it said in a statement...

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"Armyworm [infestation] happens almost every year, but this year's outbreak is very serious," said Ma Wenfeng, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agri-business Consultant Co., adding the reason was excessive rain this summer in northern and northeastern China.

Ma expected the pest infestation to reduce China's 2012 corn output by around 4 million tons to about 197 million tons, which is still a record. However, imports and inventories are likely to offset the shortage.

"This will have a minimal impact on the corn supply-demand balance in China," Ma said, referring to high government stocks and imports in the first half of 2012...