Argentina prepares first corn shipment to China in 15 years

Cofco International said it has begun loading a bulk carrier with corn bound for China from Argentina, marking what will be the first shipment of its kind in more than 15 years as the two countries expand agricultural trade.

The move comes after China approved imports of Argentine corn in 2024 and amid a record harvest now getting under way in the country. Last year, China also purchased a rare shipment of Argentine wheat, the first in decades.

Between January and February 2026, Argentina exported 1,164 TEUs of corn, according to data obtained by Datamar. Colombia, the Philippines, and Morocco were among its leading buyers. Below is the month-by-month trend in Argentina’s containerized corn shipments, based on data available on the DataLiner platform.

Corn Exports | Argentina | Jan 2023 – Feb 2026 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The cargo of about 34,000 tonnes of corn is being loaded at Cofco’s port terminal in Timbúes, Argentina, and is destined for China’s animal feed sector, the group’s trading arm said in a statement released on Wednesday (April 1).

“The cargo reflects the growing alignment between the two markets and provides an additional origin for Chinese buyers,” Cofco said.

The two countries have maintained strong trade ties under President Javier Milei, who had once pledged to scale back relations with Beijing if elected.

China has increasingly turned to South America for grain trade. Although the Asian country has bought millions of tonnes of U.S. corn in the past, it has also been seeking to diversify its feed supply chains.

That shift away from U.S. crops has accelerated under the tariff policies of President Donald Trump.

Brazil, the region’s agricultural powerhouse, is already China’s leading soybean supplier and saw corn shipments rise after Chinese approval in 2022.

This year, Brazil also sent China its first cargo of DDG, or distillers dried grains, a corn ethanol byproduct used in animal feed.

Meanwhile, no U.S. corn has been sold to China in the current season, even though exports from the world’s largest corn exporter are running at a record pace this year.

Original reporting by Dayanne Sousa and Jonathan Gilbert for Bloomberg Línea

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