Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

I have been unsure how to translate the Chinese word 宣传, usually translated "propaganda," but I've also seen it translated as "publicity" or "advertising." I started thinking about this a couple of years ago when I noticed a crossing guards trying to bring order to crosswalks in Beijing with armbands labeling them as part of Beijing's traffic "propaganda" program. The role of propaganda in China's strategy is emerging as a concern as China tries to project a better image of itself. A Washington Post article this week describes China's efforts to set up radio stations and newspaper presence in the U.S. China's "Confucious Institutes" promoting Chinese language instruction in the United States have raised suspicions of darker motives among some parents in California . According to the Post article, "The stations don't broadcast outright propaganda, but rather programming with a Chinese focus and flavor......

In an April 13 article , The Farmers' Daily lists some recent headlines from China's news media about the soybean industry: “Foreign Companies Eat Up of Our Country’s Soybean Industry,” “National Soybean Reserves Full, Oil Enterprises Have No Soybeans”, “The Last Watcher for The Domestic Soybeans Switches Sides,” “’Foreign bean’ low price attack, Heilongjiang Soybean Industry Collapse” The article calls these "...media attacks on the soybean industry’s 'collective anxiety.'" " Foreign Companies Eat Up Our Country's Soybean Industry ," published in The Securities Times in February, reveals some of the bitterness against multinational grain-trading companies and the maneuvering to push policies to support the domestic edible oils industry. The Security Times article begins by blaming the idling of 60% of domestic soybean crushers, ups and downs in price of certain cooking oil brands, and "a lot of strange happenings" on foreign companies ...

An April 15 article in the newspaper of the Peoples Consultative Committee offers a little more insight about what's going on behind the scenes on the new limits on Argentine soy oil imports. The article gives opinions of domestic soybean analysts who conclude that the limits on imported Argentine soy oil are a temporary trade measure to raise domestic soy oil and soybean prices to encourage farmers to plant more soybeans this spring. The article begins, "MOC limits on soybean oil imports give the domestic soybean industry a respite from the impact of imports." It reports that many domestic soybean processors that have been idle are restarting operations, and futures prices of soy oil and soybeans have risen since the measures were implemented. As reported previously here , the article says the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Commerce’s China Food and Native Produce Import-Export Association held a “2010 soy oil import enterprise conference” on March 31 where the Commerce ...

In 2008, a reporter visited a village in northern Jiangxi Province where she found most of the population had left to work in cities. Many of the fields were abandoned, but one old lady told her to keep it quiet so the government won't stop sending subsidies. The article gives a grim snapshot of life in China's countryside. Vacant Fields The reporter noticed as he drove along the road that many of the fields were abandoned and covered with weeds. The head of the village explained in forceful terms that the land in that area is too hilly to use mechanized equipment so no one wants to cultivate it. The village head sarcastically offered his assessment: "Who are you going to interview? This is just a dead village!" Statistics from the township showed that 15,461 mu of land was cultivated, but the local statistician told the reporter the statistics “may be inaccurate” since these numbers are estimates sent in by villages to the township government, and they don't have...

Premier Wen Jiabao spent several days in the countryside of Anhui inspecting wheat and rapeseed crops, posing with farmers for photographers, being all-round good guy, and promising more subsidies. A translation of a brief article below. The video is here . I'm from the government and I'm here to help "From April 9th to 11th, Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee and State Council Premier Wen Jiabao inspected the crop conditions in two districts of Anhui Province. He went to villages to visit with common people and made field inspections of agricultural processing companies and the Huai River project site. He held a meeting where he listened to the views of grassroots-level cadres." "Fengzui Village in Bengbu has 2600 mu of cultivated land and 2800 people. In the morning of April 9, Wen Jiabao visited wheat fields in the village. Green wheat sprouts were already tall. Some villagers were in the fields spraying for weeds. He pulled ...

This month, Chinese officials began blocking imports of soybean oil from Argentina, claiming that the residues of solvents used in the oil-extraction process exceeded safe levels. This is a major problem for Argentina’s fragile economy which relies on revenue from an export tax on soy oil, one of its main exports. Articles in the Chinese press reveal that the blockage of soy oil is actually the first step in a calculated strategy to build a Chinese “national team” in the vegetable oil industry—thinly disguised protectionism. [China’s rejection of rapeseed imports due to sudden discovery of ‘black leg’ fungus could be connected to the same strategy since it encompasses all oils and oilseeds.] An April 6 article from the China Grain and Oils Food Information Net links new soy oil standards to a “Oils and Oilseed Industry Development Plan (2009-2020)” that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) delivered to China’s State Council in late March. The main point of the plan is...

A couple of weeks ago, an article about chaos in pork slaughter in rural areas. It seems that this also happens in one of China's wealthiest cities under the noses of inspectors. Reporters for the Yangcheng Evening News uncovered a underground pig slaughtering operation in downtown Shenzhen. The reporters traced the pork from the wholesale market in Shantou to the retail market, following trucks to the source of the pigs and watching men carry the illegal pork into the market in plastic bags under the noses of market inspectors. The results of the investigation are troubling for Shenzhen residents, but they also cast doubt on China's food safety measures. This is nothing new. Illegal slaughterhouses and sale of sick or dead pigs has been a problem for years. There is a system in place that is supposed to prevent such things from happening, but it is possible to evade enforcement without too much trouble since the enforcement is not very good. Here is a summary of the investiga...

Livestock industry news is all about widespread losses among hog producers. According to one article , right now a small farmer would lose 158 yuan raising a 110-kg hog. The "hog cycle" is one of the best-known and most persistent economic phenomena in agriculture. Some of the sharpest economists have been working on ways to smooth out the hog cycle since the early part of the 20th century. Since 2007, China has probably taken more measures to deal with the hog cycle than has ever been attempted, but Chinese officials have not been able to tame the cycle. They are now buying frozen pork for reserves and announcing that hog prices have stopped falling, but ill-timed subsidies in 2007-08 caused the industry to over-expand and create excess capacity. From January to March of this year, hog prices plunged while feed prices have been creeping up. Consequently, the ratio of hog to grain price is now below the breakeven point of 6:1, and an article from Jiangsu says it's down to...

The Ministry of Commerce announced that its "Farmer-Supermarket Linkage" pilot program will be expanded this year . This innovative program, begun last year by the Commerce, Finance, and Agriculture Ministries, arranges for supermarket chains and other agricultural companies to purchase farm produce directly from producers. The idea is to reduce marketing costs by cutting wholesalers and traders out of the supply chain. The cost savings are distributed to farmers, consumers, and retailers. Farmers get a higher sale price, supermarkets purchase at a lower price and they pass on savings to consumers through a lower retail price. The Commerce Ministry says it supported 205 projects last year, which on average raised farm prices 15% and cut retail prices 15%, bringing benefits to all three parties: farmers, consumers, and enterprises. The losses sustained by traders and wholesalers--most of whom were probably poor farmers a few years ago--apparently don't matter. The program ...