August 12, 2009
China sees less corn sales in reserves auction
China sold 725,900 tonnes of corn from its state reserves at a new round of auctions on Tuesday (Aug 11), with the transaction volume declining 13 percent from last week's auctions, the official National Grain and Oil Trade Centre (NGOTC) said.
The sold corn, which represented less than 40 percent of the two million tonnes on offer, was transacted at an average price of RMB1,578 (US$230.7) per tonne, slightly lower than last week's bidding price, according to the centre.
Meanwhile, analysts are expecting bidders to be less active in future auctions as sales by the Chinese government over past weeks have offered ample supplies in the northeastern regions while processing plants in consuming areas were reluctant to bid due to high transport costs.
Recently, China has offered subsidies of RMB150 (US$21.9) per tonne to large corn processors in the four northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia to help them recoup processing losses.
