December 15, 2011

The Chinese government will purchase 550,000 tonnes of autumn-harvested rapeseed this year to support market prices, the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre (CNGOIC) said Wednesday (Dec 14).

The volume in the latest plan includes 180,000 tonnes from Qinghai province, 120,000 tonnes each from Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang autonomous regions and 100,000 tonnes for Gansu province, it said. The CNGOIC did not say where the outstanding 30,000 tonnes would be bought from.

The government has kicked off its regular market-supporting purchasing programme in western and northern China, but sales have been slow, as the government's offer price is lower than last year's prices.

It had earlier completed purchases of two million tonnes of summer-harvested rapeseed.

China's rapeseed output this year is estimated around 12.5 million tonnes compared with 13.1 million tonnes last year.