SINGAPORE — As corn prices climb past the record levels they hit this time last year, a major factor has changed for Asian importers of the grain: Australia no longer has heaps of cheap feed wheat as a substitute. For a region that buys nearly half of the world’s traded corn, the 25 percent jump in prices since the start of June for the main animal feed ingredient means pork, chicken and beef will be more expensive by the end of the year. The worst U.S. drought since 1956 has pushed Chicago corn futures, the global benchmark, to a record above 8 a bushel, or 282 a liter. But what is really going to hurt feed makers, and eventually the rapidly growing ranks of Asian meat lovers, is the lack of alternatives. Asian buyers replaced seven million to eight million tons of corn last year with feed wheat, worth between 2 billion and 2.2 billion. This came mostly from Australia, but stocks there are running down quickly. “It is prada handbags a very tough situation for the feed industry, and we feel prices will stay high for the entire season,” said the head of grains trading at one of Malaysia’s biggest feed mills, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “Substitutes are not going to be cheap.” Australia’s record 29.5 million-ton 2011 harvest was struck by late rains, which hurt the quality to the point where a third of the wheat was feed quality, fit only for animals. There was a similar downgrade in 2010. This year Australia is likely to produce a smaller, high-quality crop, which means no topping up of depleted feed wheat stockpiles. “We are offering standard milling wheat for the feed market, even locally,” said Stefan Meyer, a manager for cash markets at brokerage INTL FCStone in Sydney. “I have sold prime, hard milling wheat to a feed mill in Melbourne.” As the supply of Australian low-quality wheat dries up, the price gap with high-quality milling wheat has shrunk to just 10 a ton, down from 70 at the end of last year when the crop was being harvested. Other countries that could supply Asia Ferragamo handbags are struggling. The Black Sea region and South America have battled with dry weather, while India looks likely to keep most of its ample grain stocks at home, given milder than expected monsoon rains. Global grain importers expected the United States to produce a record crop to ease a tightness in supply the industry has faced since 2011. But more than a month of relentless heat across the U.S. Midwest has hammered the crop. A Reuters poll on U.S. corn production forecast the lowest yields in a decade. The government recently cut its estimates for the harvest 46.2 million tons, or 12 percent, from its June forecast. The top Asian consumers, China and India, have large grain stockpiles to cushion the impact. But traders said that in countries with smaller buffers, the bulk of the region’s livestock industry had not covered feed grain needs beyond September. “They have been caught unawares, caught naked,” said a senior grains trading manager at an international trading company in Singapore, who was also not authorized to speak on the record. “As of now they are shying away from the market, but come October they will have to come back.” Traders estimated that the world’s biggest corn buyer, Japan, had bought ahead for just two months of imports, or about 2.5 million tons, while Malaysia had locked in three months of supply. Vietnam and Indonesia are covered for just one or two months’ worth of imports. Farmers would rather slaughter animals than pay for expensive feed. So although the cost of meat for consumers could dip initially, tighter supplies would fuel prices during the high-consumption winter months. “Then you have the worst-case scenario: a shortage at home, and you can’t buy much from the international market because supply everywhere is tight,” said Jean-Yves Chow, a senior livestock industry analyst at Rabobank in Hong Kong. Rising food prices are a headache the region’s policy makers can do without as they try to tackle slowing economic growth. Cutting interest rates, a typical policy response to boost economies, could stoke inflation. Still, although meat will get more expensive, plentiful supplies of rice mean little chance of a rerun of 2008, when a spike in prices for staple foods caused widespread unrest. That is scant comfort to farmers. “We are worried about our future,” said Donal, whose poultry farm south of Jakarta has about 100,000 Cartier Handbags chickens. As is customary in that region, he uses only one name. “I am afraid of losses in the coming months, when Ramadan is over and chicken meat demand and its price decline,” he said.