November 4, 2005

China sells 250,000 tonnes imported wheat at RMB1,843/tonne
 

China's Zhengzhou Grains Wholesale Market sold about 250,000 tonnes of imported wheat at an average price of RMB1,843/tonne Friday, according to a source familiar with the auction.

That would be slightly more than half of the 447,000 tonnes of old wheat reserves the market put up for sale.

Floor prices for the sale were previously set at RMB1,750/tonne and RMB1,800/tonne, depending on the varieties and storage locations.

The wheat, owned by China National Grain Reserves Co., the national grain reserves manager, had been mostly imported from Canada in 1999-2001 and stored as state reserves in the coastal provinces of Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu and Guangdong.

Prices for imported wheat were usually about RMB200/tonne higher than domestically produced better quality wheat.

Better quality domestic wheat is currently priced at RMB1,700/tonne to RMB1,800/tonne.

But given the fact that the wheat was produced more than five years ago, the selling price was largely in line with market expectations, some analysts said.