China sells 1.12 million tonnes from corn reserves

China sold 1.12 million tonnes of state corn at weekly auctions on Tuesday (Apr 27), 82% of the amount on offer, with prices for the northeast reserves slightly up from last week.

Planting delays in the northeast, the country's major corn area, had supported both physical and future prices.

"The current high domestic price has been pushed up by the government with a pile of money (subsidies) and the government will not easily open the door for cheap imports," said one trading manager with an international trading house.

Beijing has been supporting domestic corn prices by stockpiling at higher prices from farmers and also offering subsidies to feedmills to buy domestic corn.

"Despite planting delays, it is still too early to say if it will cause any damage to the harvest," said the manager. Planting in northeast provinces due this month could be delayed to early May.

For reserves south of the northeast, only 332,900 tonnes out of 580,700 tonnes on offer were sold at an average of RMB1,864 (US$273.1) per tonne, slightly lower than last week. Feedmills in the south also hold ample supplies in anticipation of better demand from livestock breeding in coming months, traders said.