But most other feed grain importers were reluctant to cover their requirements for forward shipments due to sluggish domestic feed demand as a result of the country's economic crisis, they said.

"We expect several corn importers to seek 180,000 tonnes of corn from the United States or China through next two weeks, while others remain sidelined due to slowing local feed demand," said a trader with a Seoul-based foreign grain firm.

The trader said the Top Margin Committee was believed to be seeking 40,000 tonnes of corn and the National Livestock Cooperatives Federation was expected to invite tenders for about 100,000 tonnes of corn.

The Korea Feedgrain Purchasing Committee was also said to be seeking 40,000 tonnes of corn, he said. These three buyer groups were seeking corn for October shipments, hesaid.

One local importer was expected to seek 15,000 tonnes of wheat bran pellet for arrival in October, the trader said. The state-run Agriculture and Fishery Marketing Corporation (AFMC) said on Tuesday it invited a tender to buy 30,000 tonnes of edible soybeans by Friday.

Shipment was set for September 16-October 5 if sourced from the US Gulf, an AFMC official said.

Arrival was slated for November 10 at the western Port of Inchon.

A trader at a major feed milling firm said local feed producers were covering their needs for feed ingredients on a hand-to-mouth basis to maintain their inventories at low levels under the economic crisis.

Current cheap soymeal prices have boosted the use ratio in compound feed production by three per cent this year to 14 per cent from the end of last year, the trader said.

He said competitively priced Eastern European feed wheat supply had raised the ratio to 20 per cent this year from about 10 per cent at the end of last year.

But he said the low-priced soymealand feed wheat supply had cut the ratio of corn use to 30 per cent this year from 40 per cent at the end of last year. South Korea's feed corn imports fell 14.2 per cent to 3,350,424 tonnes in the first seven months of 1998 from the year-earlier period, an official with the Korea Feed Association said.

But he said feed wheat imports surged 121.4 per cent to 1,257,349 tonnes in the period and soymeal imports rose 35.7 per cent to 527,391 tonnes.

Local milling wheat importers were seen largely staying on the sidelines as they were believed to have covered their needs for November shipments, traders said.

A trader with Pan Ocean Shipping Co Ltd said freight rates for a Panamax-sized cargo for spot shipment from the Pacific Northwest had firmed to $10.00 per tonne from $9.75 a week ago.

The freight rates from the US Gulf for a Panamax-sized spot shipment were unchanged at $12.75 a tonne from a week earlier, he said.