September 22, 2006

China auctions 378,000 tonnes of corn from old stocks 
 

China's Jilin province auctioned 378,000 tonnes of old crop corn to ethanol and feed producers Thursday, a trader at auctioneer Jilin Grains Centre said Friday (Sep 22).

The average price of corn was RMB1,074/tonne, with bids in a range of RMB1,060/tonne and RMB1,140/tonne, the trader said.

The auction finished one day early. Bidding for the inedible grains was relatively active, with demand appearing to be good, the trader said.

The provincial government had planned to auction 1 million tonnes of rice and 500,000 tonnes of corn from its stocks from Sep 21-22, according to a statement on the Jilin Grains Centre's website.

Rice and corn stocks from crops harvested no later than 1998 sold well, but the remainder failed to be auctioned, mainly due to poor quality, the trader added.

China's corn production is expected to 141 million tonnes in the 2006/2007 marketing year, which runs from October to September, according to China National Grain and Oils Information Centre, a major government backed think-tank.

"The auction will have only a limited impact on the market as strong demand from feed and ethanol makers has largely offset the increase in supply (due to the auction)," said the trader.