China government to increase grain buying if prices fall more

China's government will buy more than the currently planned 30.5 million tonnes of rice, corn and soy at the same above-market purchase prices if local prices keep falling, the official Xinhua News Agency said late Thursday (December 11), citing a grain official.

Lower global grain prices and China's bumper harvest are depressing domestic prices, but the declines will be temporary, Xinhua cited an unnamed official from the State Administration of Grain as saying.

So far during the autumn harvest, the government has arranged to purchase a total of 30.5 million tonnes of the three crops from the market to boost state reserves and protect farmers' interests.

Of the currently planned total, the government is to buy 17.5 million tonnes of rice, 10 million tonnes of corn and 3 million tonnes of soy.

More will be purchased if necessary to support the market, the official was cited as saying.

As of December 5, the government had bought 6.97 million tonnes of rice, or 40 percent of the planned amount, 2.96 million tonnes of corn, or 30 percent of the planned purchase amount, and 840,000 tonnes of soy, or 28 percent of the planned amount, the report cited the official as saying.