March 2, 2011

China's corn auction sales slightly down

China sold 164,972 tonnes of corn out of 1.2 million tonnes offered from state reserves at auctions Tuesday (Mar 1), down from 212,731 tonnes sold at the last auctions on February 22, the National Grain & Oil Trade Centre said.

China's corn prices rose in the week to Tuesday in major producing areas including Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Hebei, supported by purchases by state stockpiler China Grain Reserves Corp.

Prices in Changchun in Jilin province rose RMB20 (US$3)/tonne to RMB1,860-1,880 (US$283-286)/tonne Tuesday compared with Monday, while prices in other provinces were unchanged.

China has sold about 1.3 million tonnes of corn so far this year.