RICE distributor Golden Resources is expected to open its first mainland rice processing centre in Wuhan in October.
Golden Resources managing director David Lam Kwing-chan said yesterday that equipment would soon be installed at the centre, which would have the capacity to process about 72,000 tonnes of rice per year.
He said another two processing centres, in Shantou and Sichuan, would start operating shortly after the Wuhan centre.
Golden Resources plans to set up five such ventures in all, which will produce a total of about 360,000 tonnes of rice per year, about 0.2 per cent of China's annual consumption.
It is the first foreign investor to be authorised to import and export rice in China.
Mr Lam said the company had agreed with its mainland partners that it should receive one per cent of each centre's turnover as a management fee.