According to a May 13 report by Thomson Reuters Beijing Tianxia Liang Chang Technology Company founded in 2002, and trading as Cofeed ceased operating on April 29th. Cofeed was a significant provider of data relating to commodities including soybean and soybean meal imports, inventory, crushing volumes, margins and corn pricing used by international traders.
It is understood that officers of the Public Security Bureau were responsible for sealing doors at company locations and accordingly the central government must have been involved in the decision to curtail operations. The motive for this action is unknown but probably relates to a real or perceived disadvantage for domestic importers including state-operated trading enterprise Cofco that competes with traditional independent grain traders including ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus.