The Agricultural Development Bank of China [the bank in charge of financing grain, cotton, and edible oil policies] issued a “Notice on Supply and Management of Loan Funds for Completion of Northeastern Fall Grain Procurement” to implement the central government's minimum price procurement policy. Branches of the bank are to supply funds to designated grain enterprises and Sinograin Co. from now until the end of April 2010 to purchase japonica rice, corn, and soybeans at minimum prices set by the government and to rotate grain reserves. Loans must be issued during the time when grain is purchased and according to the actual amount of grain purchased. Purchasers cannot refuse or limit grain purchases [from farmers]. The notice also directs banks to provide loans to fund subsidies and working capital for soybean crushing enterprises for purchase of soybeans.
Chinese propagandists appear to have given up on soybean self-sufficiency now that China has gained the upper hand over the U.S. on the soybean trade war front. The barrage of Chinese articles about finding soymeal substitutes, low protein animal diets, corn-soy intercropping, etc. has quietly faded from Chinese media. China's plan to bolster soybean self-sufficiency actually failed, but Brazil's bottomless soybean supplies nevertheless enabled China to snub U.S. soybean producers during last year's trade war. Xi Jinping now is free to make offers of soybean purchases to President Trump in trade negotiations without appearing to do so from a weak position. Mission accomplished, but not in the way Chinese strategists planned. Back in 2019--at the height of the first U.S.-China trade war--China's "Number 1 Document" announced a "soybean revitalization plan" to increase self-sufficiency in soybeans. Soybeans were pronounced to have strategic significanc...
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