Home›Commodities›Agriculture›Indonesia corn wet millers seek more imports amid tigh…

Indonesia corn wet millers seek more imports amid tighter quotas

U.S. USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service says local corn cannot meet wet mill demand for low-aflatoxin, high-starch feedstock, with wet mills expected to shut down until they can import more food-grade corn.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Agriculture

Indonesia’s corn wet millers are looking to increase imports after a reduced industry import quota for the 2025-26 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report. The FAS said Indonesian wet mills need corn with low aflatoxin content and high starch levels, requirements that local production cannot meet. It added that the mills, which make products including corn starch, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup and maltodextrin, may be forced to shut down until they can secure additional food-grade corn. The report also pointed to growing milling capacity in Indonesia, estimating installed capacity will rise to 5,000 tonnes per day in 2026-27 from 4,500 tpd in 2025-26. Even so, the FAS said Indonesia still imports 55% of total demand for starch, while reduced corn import allocations for the wet-milling industry create “a difficult position” for the sector’s sustainability.

On the broader corn balance, the FAS cited a Ministry of Agriculture update showing corn consumption by feed mills in January to April 2026 is up 1.1% year over year, to 2.5 million tonnes, lifting farm gate prices. It projects corn production to remain stable at 13 million tonnes in 2026-27 from 3.4 million hectares, with imports rising to 800,000 tonnes from 600,000 tonnes in 2025-26, while food use is forecast to marginally rebound to 4.4 million tonnes after wet mills cut consumption due to lower access to suitable imported raw material.

Latest closeCorn $473.25 ▲1.9%

More like this

Sources