Preparing for the future

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, chairman of her namesake company, has said the commodities unit will be reorganized to prepare itself for a possible stake sale or an initial public offering. That won't happen in the immediate future, but the company wants to be ready, she said in April.

Cofco had no comment on acquisitions, a woman in the company's media relations office, who asked not to be identified citing company policy, said by phone. Yin Jianhao, Cofco's official spokesman, didn't answer numerous calls to his mobile phone.

"Food security must include imports, and without that, the global food system doesn't work," said Franz Fischler, former EU commissioner of agriculture. "The idea of self-sufficiency is almost an archaic fear, and China is realizing this."

Cofco was formed through a series of mergers of State food and animal husbandry companies in the 1950s and is now China's biggest food company with 60,000 employees. Chairman Ning Gaoning holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and also serves as Cofco's Communist Party Secretary.

Today, the company operates China's biggest grain storage facilities and owns ports that can process 100 million tons of grain a year.

Outside food, Cofco runs commercial and residential property units, tourist resorts and financial services that include a commodity futures brokerage, a regional bank and an insurance venture with London-based Aviva Plc. It has seven listed units.

COFCO eyes deals for sugar, wine overseas	COFCO buys 51% of Dutch grain trader