Corn consumption in China is surging, but supplies are likely to remain abundant through next year, an industrial expert said Tuesday.

Wang Ziming, former secretary-general of the China Grain Business Association, predicted that corn output in 2006 will reach 142 million tons.

Total demand would not exceed 135 million tons even if the industrial use of corn is growing at an estimated rate of 30 percent, he told a symposium in Beijing. Normal growth in poultry-raising is 4 percent per year.

The corn price has been going up steadily in the first half of the year. It has risen from 0.51 yuan to 0.62 yuan per kilogram in Jilin, a major corn producer in northeast China.

Wang said the price hike is driven by the skyrocketing rise of sugar prices in the international market, a more robust world economy and a strong demand for alcohol fueled by China's fast growth. Corn can be processed into sugar and alcohol.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)