January 8, 2007

China releases 663,926 tonnes of wheat
 

China sold 663,926 tonnes of wheat from its state reserves, in the latest of a series of weekly auctions designed to stabilise national prices.

The wheat auction would continue every week through late spring this year, a grains official said.

A glitch last autumn forced a brief suspension of auctions causing wheat prices to soar, feeding into inflation.

The National Grain Trade Centre, in Hefei, sold 527,800 tonnes, or 71 percent of its planned sales volume, with prices ranging from RMB 1,400 to 1,570/ tonne.

The prices fetched for 136,126 tonnes of wheat sold by the Zhengzhou Grain Wholesale Market averaged RMB 1,489 (US$ 190.7) a tonne, the market said on its website.

Sale prices were about 5 percent less than spot wheat prices in Zhengzhou

Wheat futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange have dropped 9 percent since they spiked in November to their highest level since the spring of 2004. They are still well above their level for 2005 and most of 2006, when bumper harvests dampened prices.