China to continue procuring corn, soy for reserves

The Chinese government will continue buying some crops in major producing areas for use as temporary state reserves this year, according to a senior grain official.

Besides its minimum purchase price programme for wheat and rice, the government has been buying corn and soy from the country's northeast major producing areas for temporary reserves since 2008.

These large reserves have helped the government stabilise local grain prices.

Since last year's harvest, the government has also encouraged local processors to buy corn and soy in the northeast by providing them with subsidies.

As of end-March, state-owned and private companies had bought a total of 35.6 million tonnes of corn and 6.7 million tonnes of soy from the 2009 harvest in the northeast, Zeng Liying, deputy chief of the State Administration of Grain, said in a statement.