BEIJING, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Chinese state-run food group COFCO Group said it had imported Canadian durum wheat for the first time for processing into flour, a departure from China's usual practice of importing finished durum flour or pasta.
"This direct import of durum wheat has enriched the structure of China's imported wheat varieties, facilitated the extension of COFCO's products upstream and further improved COFCO's... full industry chain model," it said in a statement.
COFCO said the durum wheat was purchased by COFCO International and will be transferred to COFCO Haijia (Xiamen) Flour Co Ltd for processing.
China has already imported almost 2 million metric tons of durum wheat from Canada this year, according to Chinese customs data.
That does not match Canadian government data, however, which shows China bought no Canadian durum during the past year through September, the most recent month for which data is available.
Chinese purchases of other types of Canadian wheat were larger year-on-year during the 2022-23 crop marketing year, which ended July 31, the Canadian data showed.
The discrepancy is likely due to China's customs agency classifying wheat differently, said Chuck Penner, a Canadian analyst at LeftField Commodity Research.
He said Canada does not have enough durum to sell such a large volume during the year to Chinese buyers and still supply regular importers in the U.S., north Africa and Europe.
Canada accounts for around half of the global trade of durum, a type of hard wheat used to make pasta.
China has imported record volumes of wheat this year, with rain damage to its crop and worries over dry weather in exporting nations fuelling Beijing's appetite to buy while prices are low.
The world's largest wheat consumer has imported 10.83 million tons of wheat in the first 10 months of this year, a 37.7% surge from a year ago, customs data showed. (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Sohini Goswami, Rashmi Aich and Jan Harvey)
