The strong start to 2017-18 for European Union corn imports looks set to continue, with officials lifting their forecast to a record high. European Commission hiked by more than 3.0m tonnes, to 15.3m tonnes, its forecast for EU corn imports this season, on a July-to-June basis. The upgrade would take imports well above the 12.9m tonnes imported last season lifting them indeed above the 15.09m tonnes recorded in 2007-08, the current record high. The revision also came the day after the International Grains Council lifted its estimate for the bloc’s corn imports this season by 1.0m tonnes to 15.0m tonnes. The council cut its forecast for the EU corn crop by 700,000 tonnes to 59.5m tonnes, citing minor downgrades to estimates for France, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, where weather has been overly dry at times. European Commission also reduced its estimate for “usable” EU corn production, by 3.61m tonnes from last month to 58.45m tonnes.