CHICAGO, April 4 (Reuters) – Chinese buyers bought 1.084 MMT of US corn, their biggest purchase of US grain since May 2021, the US government said on Monday.

The deal comes as shipments from Ukraine, the world’s fourth biggest exporter of corn, are snarled following Russia’s invasion. China had been a big buyer of Ukrainian corn and the fighting, which also has disrupted spring planting season, has created uncertainty about their reliability as a supplier.

The US Agriculture Department said that the deal was for 676,000 tons of corn to be delivered in the 2021/22 marketing year that ends Aug. 31 and for 408,000 tons to be delivered in 2022/23.

USDA said last week that US farmers plan to cut their corn plantings this spring despite the strong global demand, with high prices for inputs such as fuel and fertilizer cutting into potential profits for growing the yellow grain.