Porto Alegre, 4/12/2004(Agência Brasil) - The president of the Chinese state-run firm, Chinatex, Zhao Boya, who is in Porto Alegre on a visit to Brazil, has confirmed that China wants to buy a total of 2 million tons of Brazilian soybeans. Boya said the decision to buy soybeans grown in Rio Grande do Sul was due to its quality.

A 350,000 ton purchase will be shipped out on April 20 after the Chinese made an upfront payment of US$50 million.

Boya says that China is the fastest growing soybean consumer market in the world and that his group, which also works with peas, cotton and corn, has seen its soybean operations rapidly expand. The purchases in Rio Grande do Sul was just beginning, said Boya. He added that there existed the possibility of future investments in the soybean industry in Brazil as the commercial relationship was just starting and could grow substantially. (Translator: Allen Bennett)