IF we're talking about the US corn,

it's not new but it is true that the amount of China's buying the US corn has skyrocketed since around Q3 2020. We've hardly heard about this last year, because, well, we've been busy with the election and the MSM haven't put on their best enthusiasm to report the news until recently.

And

this rapidly increasing demand on the US corn has been happening not because the CCP has changed their mind and decided to keep their promise on the US-China phase one trade deal [1], but because, around Aug. 2020, China was finally able to get started rebuilding their "hog herd." And they too know the food shortage is soon coming to China. [2] [3]

On Feb 11, 2021,

Financial Times reported that "China’s record corn purchases have traders wondering if bump can last."

https://www.ft.com/content/94b04a3e-6169-4b07-8218-413138c641a1

China bought a record 11.3m tonnes of corn last year (2020), of which more than a third came from the US. In late January (of 2021), the US Department of Agriculture announced that China had bought another 2.1m tonnes, the largest single sale to the country in history and the second largest on record.

China’s big purchases of corn come as the country rebuilds its hog herd after a devastating wave of African swine fever a few years ago hit its pig population. Adding to that, the domestic corn industry is now reflecting a decline in plantings several years ago when Beijing halted its corn stockpiling programme and minimum purchase prices. These were initially put in place to encourage self-sufficiency, but led to state inventories ballooning.