BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China will auction 1 million tonnes of wheat from state reserves on Oct. 20, the National Grain Trade Center said in a notice on Friday.
The announcement marks the start of a fresh round of wheat
auctions from the state stockpile this year following a rise in
prices of the grain.
China last sold wheat from its reserves in May. Feed producers stepped up purchases of the grain - usually used for food - to replace corn in animal feed as prices of the latter soared.
Corn prices have fallen below those of wheat lately in some key production hubs, however, leading to sharp fall of wheat use in feed rations.
Still, some feed producers and livestock farmers were waiting for the announcement of the wheat auction and how it might affect prices of both grains, before making any changes to their feed rations.
China is expected to use 36 million tonnes of wheat in feed in the 2021/22 crop year, an analyst at China National Grain & Oils Information Center said in September.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Shivani Singh Editing by Mark Potter and Kim Coghill)
