March 7, 2012

 

China's 2012 rapeseed yield seen at 13-14 million tonnes

 

 

The rapeseed crop of China for this year is likely to be around 13 and 14 million tonnes, the chairman of the nation's top state-owned grains trader COFCO said, marking a slight increase from its estimated 2011/12 harvest.

 

But Ning Gaoning said China's corn imports for 2012 are likely to hold steady or even slip from a year ago due to a bumper harvest at home, while soy imports should rise further this year.

 

Ning, who spoke on the sidelines of a meeting preceding China's annual parliament session starting Monday (Mar 5), did not quantify his forecasts for corn and soy imports.

 

As part of food and national security policy, Beijing controls most of China's grain imports by insisting about 95% of the country's consumption of certain grains are grown at home.

 

But some experts argue it is more efficient for China to import grains as farming uses a lot of land and water.

 

China imported some 1.75 million tonnes of corn in 2011. It became a net corn importer in 2010.

 

Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts at Oil World have predicted that China's rapeseed crop harvest likely hit 11.6 million tonnes in 2011/12, down from 12.2 million in 2010/11.

 

China is the world's largest soy buyer and has been increasing its imports of oilseeds including soy and rapeseed, which are crushed into meal and edible oils, to meet rising demand.

 

Ning said COFCO, which owns a group of listed units including China Foods Ltd, expects to post sales of RMB200 billion (US$31.8 billion) this year and has no plans to raise cash through the stock market.

 

Instead, he said COFCO intends to finance itself by selling bonds including yaun-denominated debt in Hong Kong.