[caption id="attachment_6368" align="aligncenter" width="1014"]
File Photo[/caption]
China sold almost all of its wheat at regular auctions in its state reserves last week, with feed manufacturers seeking corn substitutes and fears of a supply spread due to an increase in the Coronavirus.
Some 3,939,732 tonnes of wheat, or 99.74% of the total offer, was sold at auction, the National Grain Trade Center said in a statement on Monday (18 Jan. 2021).
"It (the auction) was crazy, most of the wheat was bought by traders who were auctioning for the feed makers," said a trader who purchases wheat for milling plants.
"We could only watch," added the trader, who said feed buyers were willing to pay whatever was needed to secure supplies. He declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
China's corn futures traded on Dalian Commodity Exchange continued to rise on Monday after hitting record levels last week. China sold off its once massive corn reserves last year, while typhoons hurt the most recent harvest in the country's northeast.
Just over half the wheat offered at the previous week's auction was sold, while December sales ranged from around 12% to 18% of stock offered. The average selling price at last week's wheat auction was 2,504 yuan ($386.27) per tonne, up 7% from just two weeks ago, according to data from the trade centre.
"People probably worried about supply and logistics with the increased (coronavirus) case numbers," said Darin Friedrichs, senior analyst at StoneX, adding that there may have been some panic buying last week to secure supplies.
China has reported a surge of new coronavirus outbreaks in recent weeks, prompting lockdown in major grains producers Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces, which has disrupted logistics and industrial activity. Find more...
Source: Online/SZK
Comment Now