Skip to main content

China Ag Imports Boom--Except for Corn

China's agricultural imports during the first four months of 2017 totaled $39.8 billion, up 17.2 percent from the same period last year, according to data issued by China's Ministry of Agriculture. Agricultural exports were $22.3, billion, up 2.3 percent.

Imports of most items grew at a robust pace, but corn imports were down 82 percent from a year ago, as China focuses on de-stocking its domestic inventory of corn. Sorghum imports were down nearly 20 percent, and imports of distillers grains--hit with antidumping duties this year--are down 77.8 percent. Cassava imports were steady and barley imports were up 170 percent.

China's wheat imports rose 94.1 percent from a year earlier due to tight supplies of good quality wheat in China. Tight supplies of good quality cotton also pushed cotton imports up 43.2 percent from last year.

Soybean imports were up 18 percent. Rapeseed imports rose 41 percent, as imports filled a gap left by lower sales of depleted rapeseed oil reserves.

January-April China Agricultural Imports
Commodity Imports Change from year ago
1000 metric tons Percent
Wheat 1,685 94.1
Rice 1,339 -0.6
Corn 310 -82.8
Sorghum 2,368 -19.9
DDGS 246 -77.8
Barley 3,269 170
Cassava 3,038 -2
Cotton 570 43.2
Cotton yarn 671 6.1
Sugar 1,087 30.9
Soybeans 27,537 18.0
Rapeseed 1,704 41.1
Palm oil 1,676 16.9
Rapeseed oil 335 -0.3
Sunflower oil 224 23.6
Soybean oil 145 13.8
Pork  453 11.8
Pork offal 433 6.6
Beef 216 16.6
Lamb 99 8.1
Milk powder 400 3.6
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Xi Jinping's Doctoral Thesis

Xi Jinping is the vice president and presumed next president of China but little is known about him. In this post the dimsums blog offers its contribution to the genre of Xi Jinping-ology by conveying Xi's decade-old views on agricultural markets. Ten years ago Xi Jinping wrote a thesis, "Tentative Study of Agricultural Marketization" (中国农村市场化研究) for a Doctor of Law degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a top breeding-ground for Chinese officials. The dimsums blogger has spent several hours poring over the 200-plus page tome to see what it reveals about Dr. Xi. The thesis is remarkably close to what China has been doing lately in agricultural policy, suggesting that Xi (or the person who actually wrote the thesis) has a major say in policy or is at least in agreement with what's being done. There is nothing adventurous, controversial (or insightful) in the thesis. It seems to be the work of a wonkish technocrat who is not prone to talk out of turn or wander from...
16 comments
Read more

Divergence in U.S. & Chinese egg prices

High egg prices are a hot topic in the United States. China, in contrast, has a glut of eggs and depressed prices.  The March 14, 2025 USDA Agricultural Marketing Service weekly eggs market overview reported that U.S. egg prices continued declining during the second week of March as the supply situation improved. No significant highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks have occurred in March and U.S. egg demand is relatively light. The average U.S. wholesale price for Grade A large white eggs was $4.15 per dozen, down sharply from their February peak.  Until 2021, Chinese and U.S. wholesale egg prices had been roughly equal at about $1-to-$2 per dozen with no trend. U.S. prices fluctuated more than Chinese prices, so the U.S. price was sometimes higher, sometimes lower than the Chinese price after converting them to dollars per dozen.  Chinese prices converted using monthly exchange rate and assuming 0.6 kg per dozen. Sources: USDA and China Ministry of Agricult...
Post a Comment
Read more

China's Corn & Wheat Imports Down 97% From Last Year

China's first customs data for 2025 feature a 97-percent decline in corn and wheat imports from a year earlier. Soybean imports were up slightly by volume (but down in value), and dairy, pork, poultry, and seafood imports rebounded year-on-year. Life was less sweet in China with a 93.7% decline in sugar imports, and drinking appears to be up as wine and beer imports posted gains.   China's agricultural imports for January-February 2025 were down 14.7 percent from a year earlier. The value of farm and food goods imported for the first two months of 2025 totaled $30.7 billion, down $5.26 billion from the same period in 2024. China's exports of agricultural products during January-February totaled $15.2 billion, up $393 million from a year earlier.  Data from China Customs Administration website. As usual, soybeans were the largest component of China's agricultural imports during January-February 2025 with a value of $6.3 billion. Meat imports were valued at $4.1 billion, ...
2 comments
Read more