Source: Zerno On-Line (Russia)
Russia corn exports to China have doubled impressively this agricultural season. From July 2025 — the start of the agricultural season — to mid-April of this year, Russia exported 330,000 tons of corn to China. This figure is double the amount shipped in the same period last season, which totalled only 153,000 tons, according to the federal center Agroexport. Furthermore, current exports are now almost equal to volumes shipped across the entire last season — 358,000 tons. That comparison, therefore, highlights just how significant this year’s growth has been.
Three Key Factors Driving Demand
The center’s analysts attribute this rising demand to three key factors:
- A partial recovery in demand for corn imports
- China’s desire for a more diversified import structure
- An increased quota for Russian grain exports compared to last season
Nevertheless, the center also points out that China’s current corn purchase volumes are not comparable to those in the 2023/24 season. According to the Main Customs Administration of China, approximately 24.7 million tons were imported that year. In the 2024/25 season, however, China reduced imports sharply to just 2.1 million tons. Despite this drop, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts that China could import up to 8 million tons in the 2025/26 season. This projection, moreover, is driven by steadily growing domestic demand.
How Russia Corn Exports to China Gained Market Share
The country structure of China’s corn imports has shifted considerably in recent years. Direct speech from the center’s report explains the situation clearly:
“The country structure of China’s corn imports has undergone significant changes over the past few years, which has also had a positive impact on Russian supplies both in the previous season and the current one. According to the State Customs Service of China, the US share decreased from 13% in 2023/24 to 3% in 2024/25 and to virtually zero in 2025/26. Russia’s share, meanwhile, increased from 1% to 17% during this period. In the first half of the current season, Russia accounted for approximately 13%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the previous season,” the center reports.
Brazil Still Leads, but Russia Closes the Gap
Brazil, however, remains China’s key corn supplier. From September 2025 to February 2026, it accounted for approximately 73% of China’s corn imports. That represents an increase of 20 percentage points compared to the previous year. Additionally, according to data from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade (MDIC) — cited by the center — Brazilian exporters shipped approximately 1.6 million tons of this grain to China from September to March. This volume is almost three times more than in the same period last year.