BEIJING - China's food aid for Africa including rice, wheat, flour, and edible oil will all be finished with shipment and reach the destinations by the end of this month, according to COFCO, the nation's largest food exporter and importer.

The food aid, worth 240 million yuan (about $38 million), will help countries such as the Republic of Djibouti and Ethiopia in east Africa that suffers a worsening food crisis due to a heavy drought that began last year, according to the COFCO, undertaker of the Chinese government's food aid task.

The Chinese government also provided $16 million to Somalia to ease its food crisis.

According to the COFCO, the first batch of food aid included 1,440 tonnes of wheat. It had been shipped at the start of September. It is expected to arrive in Ethiopia by the middle of this month.

The second batch of food aid had been shipped on September 3. It is also to arrive in Kenya by the middle of this month.

The COFCO said that other food aid will be all delivered to the East African nations before the end of this month.