獨家：貿易商稱，高溫影響小麥作物，中國採購加拿大和澳洲小麥

 Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

Exclusive-China buys Canadian, Australian wheat as heat hits crop, traders say

Reuters - Michael Hogan, Peter Hobson and Gus Trompiz

Fri, May 9, 2025 at 2:44 p.m. PDT 3 min read

HAMBURG/CANBERRA/PARIS (Reuters) -Chinese buyers bought between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tons of wheat from Australia and Canada in recent weeks, traders said, as heat threatens to damage crops in China’s agricultural heartlands.

China is the world's top wheat grower and also imports large amounts of grain when domestic supply falls short of demand.

Earlier this week, Henan province, which grows about a third of China's crop, issued a risk warning as hot, dry weather threatened the wheat growing in its fields.

Chinese buyers have purchased four or five 55,000-ton shipments of wheat from Australia for delivery in July or August and around 200,000 tons from Canada, sources at two major trading firms in Australia said. The wheat is of milling quality.

The bookings from Australia were the first made by China from the country since last year, said one of the traders.

COFCO, the state-owned Chinese firm that handles most of the country's wheat imports, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China has in recent years been one of the world's biggest wheat importers, buying in around 11 million tons worth $3.5 billion in 2024. Australia and Canada are typically its biggest suppliers.

But shipments slowed sharply after China reaped large wheat and corn harvests last year and have since remained low.

China delayed or redirected shipments from Australia earlier this year and imported less than a million tons of wheat in the seven months to March 31, Chinese customs data accessed through Trade Data Monitor show.

One of the sources said their company had lowered its forecast of Chinese 2025 wheat production by around 5 million tons but there was no guarantee that more purchases would follow because China has large wheat inventories.

"China is well self-sufficient in feed grains this crop year with heavy stocks," said Rod Baker, an analyst at Australian Crop Forecasters in Perth, adding that faltering economic growth in China was also depressing demand for grains.

Talk of Canadian wheat sales to China has echoed around agricultural business circles in Winnipeg, Canada's grain industry capital, according to traders. Few concrete details on the sales have emerged.

Chinese buyers would have avoided buying U.S. wheat due to tariffs and the trade war between Washington and Beijing, one trader said. China in the past has been a top destination for U.S. wheat sales.

The drop-off in Chinese imports earlier in the current 2024/25 season had contributed to subdued international wheat prices, with benchmark futures in Chicago still near a four-year low touched last July.

Along with weather risks to China's upcoming harvest, attractive prices may have lured Chinese importers back into the market as the 2025/26 season approaches, traders said.

 

BARLEY

Chinese importers also booked a large amount of barley, according to traders.

Some said that six panamax bulk carriers carrying around 360,000 tons of French or Ukrainian new-crop barley had been sold for delivery in July or August, with others putting the volume much higher at around 1 million tons, also for shipment this summer.

"Chinese wheat and barley import buying has been very quiet in the past year and these are the first major deals I have seen in many months," a German trader said.

Feed barley purchases with optional origin were from Ukraine or France. The deals were done at a price of around $250-$254 a tonne delivered to China, one trader said.

Translation

獨家：貿易商稱，高溫影響小麥作物，中國採購加拿大和澳洲小麥

 漢堡/坎培拉/巴黎（路透社）—貿易商稱，由於高溫威脅到中國農業中心地帶的農作物，中國買家最近幾週從澳洲和加拿大購買了 40 萬至 50 萬噸小麥。

中國是世界上最大的小麥生產國，當國內供不應求時，也會進口大量糧食。

本週早些時候，佔中國小麥產量三分之一的河南省發佈了風險警告，稱炎熱乾燥的天氣威脅著該省小麥的生長。

澳洲兩家主要貿易公司的消息人士稱，中國買家已從澳洲購買了四、五批 55,000 噸小麥，將於 7 月或 8 月交貨，並從加拿大購買了約 20 萬噸。該小麥具有良好的製粉品質。

一位貿易商表示，這是自去年以來中國首次從澳洲訂購。

負責處理中國大部分小麥進口的中國國營企業中糧集團(COFCO)沒有立即回應置評請求。

近年來，中國一直是世界上最大的小麥進口國之一，2024年進口量約1,100萬噸，價值35億美元。澳洲和加拿大通常是其最大的供應國。

但去年中國小麥和玉米大豐收後，入口量急劇放緩，此後一直維持在低位。

透過貿易數據監測 獲得的中國海關數據顯示，今年早些時候，中國推遲或改變了從澳洲進口小麥，截至 3 月 31 日的七個月內進口的小麥不足一百萬噸。

其中一位消息人士稱，他們的公司已將中國2025年小麥產量預測下調了約500萬噸，但由於中國小麥庫存量龐大，因此無法保證會增加採購量。

Australian Crop Forecasters 駐珀斯的分析師 Rod Baker 表示: 「「今年農事年中國飼料穀物自給自足，庫存充足」, 他又補充說，中國經濟成長放緩也抑制了對穀物的需求。

據貿易商稱，有關加拿大向中國銷售小麥的傳聞在加拿大糧食產業中心溫尼伯的農業商業圈中引起了廣泛討論。關於此次銷售的具體細節尚未被透露。

一位交易員表示，由於關稅和華盛頓與北京之間的貿易戰，中國買家會避免購買美國小麥。中國過去一直是美國小麥的主要出售目的地。

2024/25年度早些時候，中國進口量下降導致國際小麥價格低迷，芝加哥基準期貨價格仍接近去年7月觸及的四年低點。

貿易商表示，除了中國即將到來的收成面臨天氣風險外，隨著 2025/26 年度的臨近，誘人的價格可能吸引中國經銷商重返市場。

 

大麥

據貿易商稱，中國進口商也訂購了大量大麥。

有些人表示，六艘巴拿馬型散裝貨船載有約 36 萬噸法國或烏克蘭新收穫的大麥已經售出並在 7 月或 8 月交付，另一些人則表示數量要高得多，約為 100 萬噸，將於今年夏天發貨。

一位德國貿易商表示： “過去一年，中國小麥和大麥的進口採購一直很淡靜，這是我幾個月來第一次看到的大宗交易。”

飼料大麥的採購來源可選擇烏克蘭或法國。一位貿易商稱，運往中國的交易價格約為每噸 250 至 254 美元。

       So, Chinese buyers have bought between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tons of wheat from Australia and Canada recently as heat threatens to damage crops in China’s agricultural heartlands. Chinese buyers are avoiding U.S. wheat due to tariffs amidst a trade war. Apparently, China is reducing its dependence on some agricultural products from the US.

 

Note:

1. Panamax bulk carrier - In the field of shipping and trade, Panamax bulk carrier refers to a type of ship that meets the standards for passage through the Panama Canal and is widely used to transport various bulk cargoes.