China, the biggest soybean consumer, plans to sell about 3 million metric tons of the crop from reserves to reduce its stockpiles, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The auctions may start by the end of this month, said the people, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to comment publicly. The supplies, stored in Northeast China, were harvested around 2008-09, they said. Yan Bo, a Beijing-based spokesman at the State Administration of Grain, didn't answer two calls made to his phone.