It is "possible" that China may have bought as many as 15 cargos of US corn, grain export boss Thomas Dorr has said, as American authorities confirmed a second export deal.

The US Department of Agriculture, in a daily export sales report, said that China had purchased 369,000 tonnes of American corn, in addition to the 115,000 tonnes bought last month.

Sales of a further 174,000 tonnes were reported to unknown destinations, leaving traders to speculate that the actual total of Chinese imports so far may be higher still. Broker US Commodities pegged the figure at 685,000 tonnes.

And Mr Dorr, the chief executive of the US Grains Council, said that China may have imported 15 cargoes, equivalent to about 750,000 tonnes.

"If this is true, and we certainly hope it is and view it as good news, this may be the beginning of opportunities to trade more consistently with China," Mr Dorr said.

Hedging strategy

However, investors shrugged off the news, with corn for May trading 2.25 cents lower at $3.69 ½ a bushel at 14:30 GMT and the better-traded July contract shedding 2.25 cents to $3.76 a bushel.

"The exports are obviously positive in supporting the case for China as a long-term corn importer, but it may be that investors have factored that in for now," a London trader told Agrimoney.com.

And US Commodities suggested that the market may face some selling pressure from the unwinding of a hedging strategy employed by Cofco, the Chinese state-owned grain trader which has undertaken some of the corn imports.

"Cofco admitted they purchased futures on the US markets prior to securing the cash corn. This implies the hedges will be sold back," the broker said.

Others speculated that China may be selling the grain on rather than storing it itself, so merely displacing demand rather than creating it.

"The bearish concern is that they may have bought cargoes, but may just resell to other countries," Darrell Holaday at Country Futures said.

Robust demand

Mr Dorr attributed China's return to imports as a reflection of the growing affluence of its population which was eating more meat and so supporting the domestic livestock industry, with its inherent need for animal feed.

"The Chinese economic growth that's taken place over the last several years has created new demands by their middle class for higher quality proteins that is going to result in increased need for corn," he said.

Meanwhile, production had been dented last year by drought, and this year had run up against a cool and wet spring.