As the drought sent corn prices higher in the U.S. – Latin American countries are expected to increase their output by 5.9% this year according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a result the big corn buyers, Japan, Mexico and Korea are buying from South America where corn is US$30 cheaper than U.S. corn. Korea imported 35% of their corn from the U.S. in 2012 – down from 85% in 2010 and the lowest amount since 2005, and Japanese U.S. corn imports were down to 74% of the total corn imports.