China is suspending imports of Ukrainian corn due to new measures to support domestic farmers, Bloomberg reports, citing its own sources. This decision by Chinese importers led to the cancellation of corn shipments from Ukraine for several cargoes that were scheduled for delivery from April to June.

Over the past two weeks, Chinese buyers have already rejected four to five shipments of Ukrainian corn, and further shipments may also be canceled. This decision follows a request from Chinese customs officials to traders to limit imports of foreign corn into customs zones in order to reduce the surplus on the domestic market and support prices in favor of local farmers before the sowing season.

Under the new rules, traders can import corn into the customs zones and mix it with other ingredients for animal feed to import it at a reduced duty rate.

China is the world's largest importer of corn, so refusing to import from Ukraine could affect global prices, which are already under pressure due to bumper harvests in the US and Brazil. This is a noteworthy situation for the global grain market.