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COFCO Top Grain Trader in Fortune Global 500

China's COFCO was the top-ranked grain trading company in the latest Fortune Global 500. COFCO ranked 157 with revenue of $81.95 billion. Its ranking was lower than last year's 133. COFCO was still ahead of Archer Daniels Midland (ranked 167), Wilmar (195), Bunge (196), Louis Dreyfus (287), Olam (302), and CHS (468). The rankings of grain trading companies were pulled from Fortune's list and compiled by China Oil Guidance Net. Cargill is the largest grain trading company but it is not in the Fortune 500 ranking because it is a privately held company; Cargill's revenue for its 2025 fiscal year was $154 billion. 


Two Chinese companies were ranked in the top 10: State Grid (3) and China National Petroleum (10).

Over the years, Chinese government and industry officials have been obsessed with expanding COFCO to compete with so-called ABCDs (ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus). COFCO grew by absorbing Chinese companies like Chinatex and Mengniu Dairy as well as foreign trading companies Noble Agri and Nidera. COFCO has 16 subsidiary companies engaged in trading, grain milling, edible oils, cotton, pork, sugar, dairy, wine, tea, technology, and investment. COFCO has a joint venture with Coca Cola.

Most of China's import quotas for grains, cotton, and sugar are set aside for COFCO. It is the largest wheat and rice miller, the largest soybean crusher, and exports tomato sauce. This year COFCO has been importing U.S. soybeans at loss-making premium prices to fulfill Xi Jinping's 12-mmt purchase agreement made at last October's Busan, South Korea summit. 

"Number 1 Documents" stating agricultural and rural policy priorities have often called for: "Nurturing internationally competitive grain trading and agribusiness conglomerates by supporting development of various forms of multinational business by national enterprises, strengthening cooperation in processing, transportation, and trade." 

A decade ago, COFCO's communist party secretary said, "COFCO shall resolutely carry out Secretary General Xi Jinping’s important instructions and undertake to ensure China’s grain security and food security so as to gain control over grain resources on behalf of the country and develop international industry competitiveness."

COFCO is now big, but it's unclear whether it is actually profitable. I could not find financial data on the company's web site.




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