Sources say Chinese state trading firm COFCO has bought up to nine 60,000-tonne cargoes of Australian canola.
That's after Beijing last month imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of the oilseed from traditional supplier Canada.
The purchases amount to around 540,000 tonnes, equivalent to about eight per cent of China’s total canola imports last year.
Beijing is conducting an anti-dumping probe into Canadian canola, and in August imposed preliminary duties of 75.8 per cent, bringing shipments to a virtual standstill amid a larger diplomatic and trade dispute between the two nations.
Canada had been China’s main supplier for the past several years, and the cargoes demonstrate China can find alternate sources of the oilseed as trade talks between Ottawa and Beijing drag on.
