Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

On September 13, a widely-circulated commentary offered the opinion, "Large Imports of American Pork are a Big Problem." The commentary was prompted by the USDA's report that U.S. exports of pork to China during the first seven months of 2011 totaled 200 million lbs., five times more than the same period last year. A number of commentaries make much of the large percentage increase in imports this year, but they fail to note that U.S. imports were at minimal levels during most of last year due to an H1N1-motivated Chinese ban. The article's title seems to be sounding an alarm, but the text is ambiguous. The commentator points out that imports are beneficial for cooling off what is called "pork inflation" in China. He argues that high pork prices are a reflection of China's limited grain supplies. He says high grain prices are good for farmers, but they erode Chinese farmers' international competitiveness. He asserts that imports pose a long-term pro...

New residents of the city are happy they no longer have to walk up and down the mountain. Some areas of China are carrying out massive social engineering projects that involve moving vast numbers of rural people around the countryside. In many cases, the projects remove people from the path of water projects. But there also is a strategy of depopulating overcrowded rural areas to free up land for farming. One of the most adventurous regions is Chongqing, an area traditionally dominated by poor, small farms on hillsides that is now receiving massive investment as a focal point of the "develop the west" strategy. Last week, The Chongqing Morning News profiled families that moved from the country to a city and others that moved from a mountain village to a better piece of land. A T.V. news broadcast also profiled farmers who had moved to the city and were making money raising rabbits. Ms. Yang was among the first families in Kai county to be moved to Feng Le Town at the end of ...

On September 2, China's Ministry of Agriculture released the "12th five-year plan for agriculture and the rural economy." Interestingly, the full document seems to have disappeared from the Ministry's web site and doesn't appear to be available anywhere on the Internet. A summary by Chinese investment advisors reveals the general contents, and another article containing comments from a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) spokeswoman reveals some insights about the serious challenges the plan is seeking to address. The plan reiterates the priorities of maintaining grain security and steady increases in rural income that have been broad policy goals since at least the 1990s. To achieve these broad goals, the plan calls for reshaping agricultural industry--speeding up development of "modern agriculture," continuing to "build a socialist countryside. In perhaps a last-gasp effort by the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao leadership to cement its legac...

A reporter investigates sick pigs on a farm near Guangzhou. An October 2009 article from China’s Southern Metropolitan Daily illustrates the murky situation at the farm level with regard to services provided by veterinary officials. A farm near Guangzhou purchased 80 pigs to raise as finishing hogs. The pigs were vaccinated against blue ear diseae (PRRS), foot and mouth disease, and classical swine fever by personnel from the township veterinary station (these vaccinations are mandatory and are to be provided free of charge). Several months later pigs began vomiting, drooling and redness appeared on their skin, they had convulsions, and other signs of illness. The farmer asked a veterinarian to come look. He thought it was due to high fever. On October 11 the first hog died. After several days, the hogs died one after another, 40 in all. Reporters went to the farm and saw the 30 pigs left that were paralyzed and could only breathe in small gasps. Some dead pigs were among...

In the bad old days of the centrally-planned economy, China's urban residents bought basic food necessities from State-run shops at cut-rate prices using ration coupons. The state-run shops have been in mothballs for nearly 20 years now, but some Chinese officials are setting up something similar in a desperate attempt to control food price inflation. The red banner: "Guigang City Government Limited Price Pork Sanhe Market Sales Outlet" News articles this month report that a number of cities have opened food shops that sell discounted pork and cooking oil ( 限价猪肉,食用油销售点) . In Guigang, a small city in Guangxi Province, the city government has opened 13 discount pork shops and 6 discount sales points for cooking oil. These shops or sales counters sell government pork--probably from city reserves--at low prices as a strategy of bringing down high market prices for pork. A reporter in Guigang found a discount pork shop next to one of the city's food markets. It...