China says it will buy at least 500,000 tonnes of Canadian milling wheat by the end of 2011, more than doubling the typical level of Chinese purchases in recent years.The deal, announced July 5 by agriculture minister Gerry Ritz when he returned from his third trade trip to China during the past year, would be worth $130 million to Canadian producers at current prices.The minister credited the wheat deal to his “continued interventions at multiple government levels.”The Canadian Wheat Board did not immediately issue a news release about the agreement with COFCO, the largest organization representing government-owned food processors. It is a memorandum of agreement with details on exact quantities and prices to be negotiated.CWB president Ian White was part of the trade delegation that accompanied Ritz. He signed the agreement.The promised 500,000 tonnes of sales, while lower than past multi-million tonne deals, is significantly higher than the 37,000 tonnes sold in 2008-09.John Lyons of the CWB said that final numbers for the current year ending July 31 are not known but the promised 500,000 tonnes in sales will be a significant boost.“We certainly are looking at it as the biggest sale in five years,” he said July 5. In 2004-05, China bought 2.2 million tonnes of wheat from Canada.The wheat agreement follows a malting barley agreement last spring that will see 150,000 tonnes per year for the next three years ending July 31, 2013 going to the Chinese brewing industry.The board estimated it will be worth $100 million to the industry based on prices when the deal was signed, although prices and qualities for individual sales will be negotiated when deals are made.The board says China is in the market because poor weather conditions have reduced the Chinese crop.Ritz also announced that effective July 3, China made the regulatory changes necessary to open up the Chinese market to Canadian industrial tallow and boneless beef from animals younger than 30-months.
Read Also
Huge Black Sea flax crop to provide stiff competition
Russia and Kazakhstan harvested huge flax crops and will be providing stiff competition in China and the EU.
