October 10, 2009

China completes grain inventory checks

China's top state planning body has concluded its four-month investigation at state grain warehouses, finding that the grain reserves nearly matches reported levels.

By the end of March, state-owned warehouses held grain reserves totalling 225.4 million tonnes, which was 99.7 percent of the reported level, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Friday (Oct 9).

The number did not include weekly sales by the government in the past five months, and was larger than an earlier figure of between 150 million and 200 million tonnes announced by Premier Wen Jiabao.

China launched a nation-wide check on its grain silos in April after some grain experts and local media cast doubt on the level of local reserves, saying many warehouses falsify booked numbers and keep stocks lower than stated, or empty.

The commission did not give a breakdown, but said half of the stocks came from last year's harvest.

Beijing has stockpiled the highest ever quantity of grains, including rice, wheat, corn and soy, since late last year to help boost farmer incomes after a record harvest of 528.5 million tonnes and weak demand from processors and feed mills.

This year, government buying agency Sinograin, said it had bought 2.677 million tonnes of early rice and 39.99 million tonnes of wheat by September 25. Purchases of corn and soy have not started.

China was expecting a good harvest this year, with rice and wheat output expected to rise but corn and soy output seen likely to fall from last year's level because of bad weather.