Some 50,700 tonnes of soybeans from Brazil was the first shipload of grain landed at the northeastern Chinese port of Panjin since the port was given permission to handle imports of grain, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency says Panjin is one of eight ports that were given official permission by China General Administration of Customs on May 8 to handle imports of grain, becoming Liaoning province’s fifth designated grain-importing port.

The report says the first shipload was brought ashore at Panjin Grain Terminal by a fully enclosed conveyor belt at the rate of 700 tonnes per hour, and then distributed to mills owned by Liaoning Huifu Rongxing Protein Technology Co. Ltd.

It is 3 million yuan (US$433,900) cheaper per ship to use Panjin than to use the port of Yingkou, 131 kilometres away, Xinhua quotes Huifu Cereals and Oils Group boss Xu Dianjie as saying.