BEIJING: China will sell 500,000 tonnes of wheat at auction from state reserves on Jan. 5, the National Grain Trade Center said in a notice late on Wednesday.

The auction, the second significant batch since this year’s new harvest, was only open to wheat flour processing companies, according to the notice. Wheat bought can only be processed by the milling plants and cannot be resold, the notice said.

Chinese feed producers snapped up wheat from the state stockpiles during auctions in the last crop year to replace corn, whose prices had soared to record levels.

Strong demand from the feed sector has pushed up prices of wheat this year, just as top policymakers renewed their focus on grain security in the world’s most populous country.

Beijing sold 891,938 tonnes of wheat at an auction from state reserves in October, which was open to both milling plants and feed and livestock firms.

The trade centre later announced that it would sell another 40,000 tonnes of wheat from the state stockpiles on Oct. 27, but has not released any results on its website.