China, Japan and Mexico were the largest corn importers in the world during 2022, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
While corn imports to China fell at a year-on-year rate of 11%, to US$7.104 billion, those to Japan and Mexico increased 23% and 6%, to US$5.855 billion and US$5.437 billion, respectively.
Thus, of the world’s total corn imports in 2022, China’s coverage was 10.3%; Japan’s, 8.5%; and Mexico’s, 7.9%.
On the one hand, China’s state trading enterprises have the exclusive right to import or export the following products: wheat, corn, sugar, tobacco, rice, cotton, crude and processed oil, refined coal, chemical fertilizers, tungsten and its products, antimony, and silver.
State ownership remains very important in China’s economy, even in non-strategic, commercially oriented sectors, and SOEs still have a considerable market share.
Corn importers
Pursuant to Article 13 of the Tariff Law of Japan, reductions or exemptions from customs duties imposed on imported raw materials may be granted in order to develop domestic branches of production that manufacture specific products, or to maintain stability in the daily lives of the population.
The goods currently subject to these duty reductions/exemptions are the following: compound feeds (e.g., kaoliang and other grain sorghum, corn, rye, banana powder, sugar (with a sucrose content, by weight calculated on dry product, corresponding to a polarimeter reading of 98.5 degrees or more), molasses and cassava or sweet potatoes (yams, sweet potatoes) sliced and semi-dehydrated.
Also unmixed feed (e.g., kaoliang and other types of grain sorghum and corn); and peanut oil (groundnut, peanut) and peanuts (groundnut, peanut).
In general, the tax rates for these products are 0 percent. According to the Japanese authorities, the list of goods subject to duty reductions/exemptions under Article 13 does not fall under the category of «end-use tariff concessions».
In Mexico, corn imports are used primarily for livestock and industrial use, not for tortilla consumption.
