Newsroom
2003
CWB signs sales agreement with China’s wheat buying agency
December 11, 2003
Winnipeg – The Canadian Wheat Board today signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the China National Cereals, Oil and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corporation (COFCO) for the sale of 500 000 tonnes of wheat in 2004. The memorandum calls for the wheat sale to be negotiated under normal commercial practices and at market values. At today’s prices, the value of the agreement is approximately $100 million.
CWB President and CEO Adrian Measner was in Ottawa for the signing ceremony which coincided with the official visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Canada’s capital. The signing was witnessed by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Premier Wen Jiabao.
“China is a significant market for the high-quality wheat produced by western Canadian farmers,” said Measner. “We are pleased to be able to meet COFCO’s needs and to continue our long-standing and important relationship with China.”
The CWB’s trading relationship with COFCO began in 1961 following a long-term sales agreement for western Canadian wheat and barley to China. The original terms of the agreement called for the CWB to ship to COFCO between three and five million long tons of wheat and as much as one million tons of barley over 36 months. (A long ton is a metric ton.) Since that time, China has become one of the CWB’s largest customers, importing more than 118 million tonnes of grain. The CWB now provides about half of China’s total annual wheat imports and one-fifth of annual malting barley imports.
In 1994, the CWB opened a branch office in Beijing to provide service to COFCO and the CWB’s other customers in China.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada’s biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based company sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Rhéal Cenerini
Communications consultant
Winnipeg, MB
tel: (204) 983-4497