China to issue more cotton import quotas to textile exporters
China has purchased about 350,000 tonnes of US wheat over the last 10 days after prices fell to their lowest in more than seven months, and soaring domestic prices increased the appeal of the US grain, traders said on Wednesday. China is the world's biggest producer and consumer of wheat, but local prices have risen…
Egytex News Desk
Source: Business recorder
"US prices have fallen a lot over the past week and it makes sense for mills to book more," said a source at a Chinese miller. One export source in Chicago said China bought six cargoes of US soft and spring wheat last week, scheduled for delivery from April to May, at prices ranging from $330 to $378 a tonne.
The Chinese source said another cargo was purchased this week, adding that the seven cargoes included some dark northern spring wheat priced at $375 to $385, cost and freight, a tonne. Benchmark US wheat futures last week fell to their lowest since June 2012 on expectations of a bumper harvest due to crop-friendly weather in the US Plains. This is lower than the 2,720 yuan ($440) per tonne charged for domestic high-quality wheat in the south port city of Shenzhen. The recent purchases add to China's January wheat from both the United States and Canada.
China has set annual wheat import quotas at 9.636 million tonnes, 90 percent of which will be issued to state-owned companies.
Source: Business recorder
From the Egytex news archive, first published on 26 February 2013. Figures and names are as reported at the time.
