China put 687,600 tons of wheat reserves into market through auction held on Thursday, the seventh such auction since November and the last for this year in a bid to halt rising prices on the domestic market.

Compared with the previous six auctions, the volume of business saw a visible decline, with only 68 percent being sold.

The wheat was sold in east China's Anhui and Shandong provinces, north China's Hebei Province, and Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province.

"The sharp decline since the sixth auction indicated that the previous auctions had some effect, and the grain shortage has been greatly eased," said Li Dayu, an analyst with a futures company in Henan Province.

China has auctioned 4.34 million tons of its grain reserves since November in a bid to keep down rising prices on the domestic market.

The latest auction was in Zhengzhou a week ago, when 77.6 percent of the grain was sold, with a turnover of 219,000 tons, said sources with the China Grain reserves Corporation (CGRC).

The government will intervene in the market periodically by selling grain reserves. As the Chinese Lunar New Year approaches, more flour is consumed.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)