September 23, 2009
China sees lower state corn sales as new harvest approaches
China sold 744,400 tonnes of state-owned corn out of 3.19 million tonnes offered in a weekly auction on Tuesday (Sep 22).
The sale, which commanded prices of RMB1,670 (US$244.5) per tonne, was the smallest in scale for the past six auctions.
Shi Zhongfei, an analyst at Luneng Jinhui Futures, said feed plants would not purchase large amounts of inventories as they are uncertain about the new corn price. Curbed by a drought in August, the corn harvest in the major growing region of northeast China is due next month.
Out of the estimated 40 million tonnes of state reserves, China has sold a total of 11.6 million tonnes of corn in weekly auctions which began in July.
The auctions would not stop until the new corn harvest as China wants to reduce its stockpiles and free storage space ahead of the new domestic harvest, according to Liu Bin, an analyst at CITIC Futures.
|
Date |
Volume sold
(tonnes) |
Highest price
(RMB/tonne) |
Volume offered
(tonnes) |
|
Sep 22 |
744,400 |
1,670 |
3,192,500 |
|
Sep 15 |
1,320,700 |
1,660 |
3,173,000 |
|
Sep 8 |
1,860,000 |
1,710 |
2,895,700 |
|
Sep 1 |
1,920,600 |
1,690 |
2,496,000 |
|
Aug 25 |
1,565,900 |
1,640 |
2,517,900 |
|
Aug 18 |
1,001,900 |
1,640 |
2,007,000 |
|
Aug 11 |
725,900 |
1,610 |
1,995,000 |
|
Aug 4 |
833,900 |
1,650 |
1,937,500 |
|
Jul 28 |
928,300 |
1,670 |
2,000,000 |
|
Jul 21 |
745,900 |
1,690 |
2,000,000 |
|
Total |
11,647,500 |
　 |
24,214,600 |
|
Source: China National Grain & Oil Trade Centre
US$1=RMB6.827 (Sep 23) | |||
