"There should not be any reason why buyers would be looking at China. They're not competitive." Malaysia, one of the prime targets for Chinese corn, bought about 30,000 tonnes of corn from the United States at about $105 a tonne C&F for August shipment, they said. Some traders said even Indonesia was looking to buy 30,000-50,000 tonnes of U.S. corn, despite its ongoing domestic harvest.

"The US market's so cheap. They will be buyers, and keep some," said another trader. Shanghai traders said earlier Friday that state grain trading firm COFCO and the Jilin provincial government recently each sold one million tonnes of corn to four foreign trading firms at between $101 and $102 FOB Dalian. But Singapore traders saidthey had not heard of this deal and could not see how it would make sense commercially for the trading firms involved as the China price was still too high said a third trader.

"U.S. is C&F $99. Even if China offered me $101 (FOB) now, it's too expensive." Chicago corn futures hit fresh 11-year lows on Thursday sharpening the U.S. edge against China and against Argentine corn, which is nearing the end of its harvest and facing logistic woes.