China will shift 3.05 million tonnes of corn from state reserves in the north-east to storage in major consuming areas to ease store shortages after Beijing' stockpiling campaign of grains and soya in the growing areas. The State Administration of Grain said the amount of corn from last year's harvest will be moved to areas including Shanghai, Zhejiang and Shandong as well as Sichuan in the south.
Traders had expected Beijing to release state corn reserves this month as domestic supply became tight after the government absorbed excessive supplies and bought about 35 million tonnes for state reserves in the north-east.
"Corn prices are still not high enough for the government to sell," said one corn trader in Shandong. "Sinograin will lose money if they sell reserves at current prices." Corn was quoted at between 1,440 and 1,460 yuan ($213.9) per tonne in the area, still lower than the 1,500 yuan per tonne Bejing paid to farmers.
Beijing has promised not to hurt domestic farm product prices by releasing its huge reserves as it supported farm prices to boost income for farmers. The bureau said 1.06 million tonnes of corn and soyabeans of the first batch of 3 million have been shifted to consuming areas. China has also agreed to buy more than 7 million tonnes of soyabeans, almost half of last year's harvest, in the north-east, under the campaign extended to end-June.
Comments
Comments are closed.