COFCO full name China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation, is one of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

's state-owned foodstuffs

Foodstuffs

Foodstuffs is a group of three New Zealand grocery and liquor retailers' cooperatives based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch which collectively control an estimated 57% of the New Zealand grocery market...

 import

Import

The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...

 and export

Export

The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

 holding companies. COFCO Group is China's largest food processing, manufacturer and trader.

Founded in 1952, it is one of the largest SOEs of the 49 directly administrated by China's State Council. Between 1952 and 1987, it was the sole agricultural products importer and exporter operating under direct control of the central government. In 2007, the Corporation had just over 60,000 employees in multiple locations in China as well as overseas operations in countries like the US, UK, Japan, Australia and Canada.

Besides the foodstuff business, COFCO has developed itself into a diversified conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

, involving planting, cultivation, food-processing, finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

, warehouse

Warehouse

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...

, transportation, port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

 facilities, hotels and real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

. It is one of the top 500 enterprises chosen by US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

's Fortune Magazine.

COFCO now has totally 5 listed companies. Two are China Foods Limited

China Foods Limited

China Foods Limited , shortly China Foods and formerly COFCO International Limited　, is a listed company in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is engaged in food processing and food trading, including oilseed, wineries, beverage, confectionery, wheat, brewing materials, rice, biofuel,...

  and China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited

China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited

China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited is a leading producer and supplier of processed agricultural products in Mainland China. Its service categories are biofuel and biochemical, oilseed processing, rice trading and processing, brewing materials, and wheat processing. Its chairman is Mr...

  listed on the Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. Another three are COFCO Tunhe , COFCO Real Estate  and BBCA  listed on Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

 respectively.

Subsidiaries

• China Foods Limited
  China Foods Limited
  China Foods Limited , shortly China Foods and formerly COFCO International Limited　, is a listed company in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is engaged in food processing and food trading, including oilseed, wineries, beverage, confectionery, wheat, brewing materials, rice, biofuel,...
  
  , a listed subsidiary of COFCO Group
• China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited
  China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited
  China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited is a leading producer and supplier of processed agricultural products in Mainland China. Its service categories are biofuel and biochemical, oilseed processing, rice trading and processing, brewing materials, and wheat processing. Its chairman is Mr...
  
  , a list subsidiary of COFCO Group