COFCO to invest RMB 2 bln in rice industry

Apr. 14, 2010 (China Knowledge) - The rice division of China National Cereals, Oils & Foodstuffs Import & Export Corp, a state-owned food giant in China founded in 1949, yesterday said that it plans to spend RMB 2 billion to build ten rice processing plants this year and that these plants will add about 1.5 million tons of annual production capacity.

Yang Hong, general manager of the division, said that COFCO aims to sell 650,000 tons of rice in 60,000 outlets this year.

COFCO, a leading agribusiness and food industry company in China which is also involved in real estate and financial services, has allocated 70% of the group's resources to grain and related core business and 25% to the property and hotel business, said Yu Xubo, president of COFCO.

Reportedly, COFCO spent a total of RMB 26.6 billion to purchase agricultural products from 4.6 million rural Chinese households in 2009.