They said the Chinese corn, which was sold last week for $105 a tonne FOB China, was more expensive than Argentine corn but that the buyers needed it before the end of the May, which was too soon for arrival from South America.

"Indonesians are screaming for corn, in southern Malaysia they are screaming for corn, but I don't think there will be big volumes sold. Nobody wants to pay these prices," a trader said. Argentine corn was selling for about $110 a tonne C&F Asia, but the earliest arrival date was June, a trader said.

Traders also said China has authorised Jilin province to market Chinese corn for export in addition to the marketingdone by the government's main enterprise, COFCO, in Beijing. The province in northeast China is the country's biggest corn producer. Chinese corn exports have declined significantly over the past year after the government refused to lower its offering price to meet the competition from cheaper US and Argentine corn.

In the oilseeds sector, China's policy of supporting its domestic crushing industry may be behind a delay in approving soyoil import quotas that the market was expecting, traders said. "People are still waiting for the quotas. Nobody knows when they will be issued," a trader said.

They said the government wanted to encourage the use of domestic products to keep prices steady. Edible oil prices in China recently have risen, with the price of rapeseed oil increasing to 6,900 yuan ($831) a tonne from 6,700 yuan. "The government is encouraging the crushing industry and giving out less quota," another trader said. An official of a state foodstuffs and oil company said in March quotas wereexpected that would allow buyers to import 5,00,000 tonnes of rapeseed oil and soyoil and an additional 5,00,000 tonnes of palm oil, but a trader said he expected the amounts to be less.

China imported 8,29,000 tonnes of soyoil, 2,84,706 tonnes of rapeseed oil and 9,29,907 tonnes of palm oil in 1998.