China to auction 2.51mn tonnes of corn from state reserves  

BEIJING: China will start selling corn from its huge state reserves on May 5, the National Grain Trade Center said, aiming to sell up to 2.51 million tonnes at its first auction.

The sale will include 394,000 tonnes of 2013 corn from Inner Mongolia and 300,000 tonnes of Liaoning province corn, 700,000 tonnes from Jilin province and 610,000 tonnes from Heilongjiang province.

China will also auction 12,400 tonnes of imported corn and 500,900 tonnes of 2012 domestic corn, the trade center said.

Beijing has about 230 million tonnes of corn in its state reserves, equal to about a year of demand. It was expected to auction the grain at attractive prices this year amid growing pressure to get rid of its ageing stocks.