2010 China Starch Output up 9.7% over 2009

July 29, 2011, CCM - According to China Starch Industry Association (CSIA), China's total output of starches (corn starch, cassava starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, wheat starch, etc.) reached 19.7 million tonnes in 2010, increasing by 9.7% over 2009. Moreover, the output of corn starch, the largest category of starch in China, also increased by about 10% in 2010 over last year. Meanwhile, sweet potato starch, wheat starch and other starches also witnessed slight increase in output, and that of potato starch rose obviously. But CSIA didn't reveal the accurate output data of cassava starch in 2010. (FIGURE2)Based on CCM’s July issue of Corn Products China News, the increase in starch output in 2010 is majorly driven by the strong demand for starch in downstream industries, like starch sugar, sugar alcohol and modified starch. According to CSIA, total output of starch sugar products (liquid) increased by 13.1% in 2010 over 2009. Particularly, the output of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS, one kind of starch sugar) reached over 500,000 tonnes in 2010, up 41% over 2009 because sucrose price in China skyrocketed to a high level in 2010.

In sugar alcohol industry, total output of major sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, mannitol and erythritol) also witnessed an uptrend in 2010, which increased by about 9% over 2009, according to CCM's latest sugar alcohol report published in May 2011: Production, Market and Manufacturing Cost of Sugar Alcohols in China. Along with the output increase of sugar alcohol products, the demand for starch (majorly referred to corn starch) followed to rise as it is one of the most important raw materials of sugar alcohols.

Moreover, according to Modified Starch Speciality Council of CSIA, modified starch's output in China increased by 4% over 2009.

Besides the increase in output, starch's production technology also improved in 2010 compared with 2009. Take corn starch for example, its average starch yield in 2010 was 69.9% compared with 65.9% in 2009. The higher average starch yield means the unit consumption of raw material has been reduced to some extent, so did the production cost. Moreover, the average unit consumption of water, electricity and steam also reduced in 2010 over last year.

However, the unit consumption in corn starch's production varies among different manufacturers. In 2010, the highest starch yield in all

corn starch manufacturers was 71.2%, and the lowest one was just 64.1%; the lowest unit consumption of water was 1.5t/t, and the highest 6t/t; the lowest unit consumption of electric power was 111kWh/t, and the highest was 250kWh/t; the lowest unit consumption of steam was 0.66t/t, and the highest was 2.34t/t. In 2011-2015, it's believed that the government will try to clear out starch production lines with inferior technology and low capacity.

It's believed that the total output of starch in China will maintain an uptrend in 2011 thanks to its booming downstream market. Particularly, potato starch's output will be stimulated to rise by the increase in China's anti-dumping duty on the EU's potato starch since April 2011. (The anti-dumping duty has been increased to 12.6%-56.7% since 19 April 2011 from 17%-35% before.) Output of corn starch is greatly affected by government policy. At present, constructing new production lines of corn starch will be hard to get approval. And if there is no other restriction policies to come out, it's believed that corn starch's output will increase this year.

Source: Corn Product China News July 2011

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Content of Corn Products China News July 2011:

2010 China starch output up 9.7% over 2009
Northeast Pharmaceutical suspends VC production since 15 July

Chinese corn products Imp. & Exp. analysis in May 2011
Prices of four major amino acid products keep stable except lysine
VB2 price sees increase in July
Shandong Longlive's fuel ethanol business arouses concerns
Global Bio-chem's polyol chemical awarded BioPreferred label by USDA
Xiwang Sugar to purchase starch and maltodextrin production lines from Xiwang Pharmaceutical
Xanthan gum expected to performance well in 2011
Inferior capacity of citric acid, MSG and alcohol to be eliminated by late 2011
Luwei Pharmaceutical marches into sorbitol industry with 50,000t/a capacity
2011 import volume of cassava starch expected to increase
Corn price expected to increase before new corn comes out in 2011

Corn Products China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM International on 20^th of every month, reveals the driving force of news stories and deeply analyzes the influence of trends and dynamics on domestic and international corn deep processing industry.

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