Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

A new registration system for milk powder products in China is aimed at paring down the bewildering number of formulas and brands that crowd retail shelves, news media say. Milk powder products in a Chinese supermarket. New regulations announced last October require milk powder producers to register with China's Food and Drug Administration before the regulations come into force January 1, 2018. Companies will be permitted to register no more than 9 milk powder products: up to 3 milk formula lines, each with up to 3 formula products. Companies with R&D, inspection capacity, and their own production equipment are permitted to register. CFDA recently announced approval of 89 milk formula products submitted by the first set of 22 companies to register. Two more rounds of registration are expected before the January 1 deadline. China Economic Times  says the regulation is aimed at reducing the excessive number of brands and products. Statistics show there ...

There were few changes in supply and demand estimates by China's Ministry of Agriculture in August with harvests for major crops about to begin in coming months. The 2016/17 estimate of corn imports was raised by 200,000 mt to 1 million metric tons. According to MOA, the corn auctioned from reserves has not met demands of processors, so some switched to imports. As of yesterday's auctions, 40 mmt of corn had been auctioned from China's reserves since May. However, the MOA balance sheet estimates that the supply of corn for 2016/17 will still exceed consumption by 9.7 mmt. MOA revised its estimate of 2017/18 corn  yields downward due to pest problems in certain areas--although the yield is still historically high. Corn production for 2017/18 will fall to 210.7 mmt, and consumption will exceed supply by 3.17 mmt in the coming market year, according to the MOA estimates. China corn supply and demand (Ministry of Ag, August 2017) Item Unit 2016/17 ...

A Chinese official signaled that a major reform or even elimination of the country's price floor policy for wheat and rice may be on the horizon, but an official media outlet assured farmers that they need not worry about a drastic policy change that will curb their rising incomes. In remarks at a rural policy forum held in Beijing , Han Jun--head of the Central Communist Party's Rural Leadership Group--praised the grain price support policies for their role in ensuring food security and protecting farmers' incomes, but he raised concerns about unintended consequences in the current market environment where international prices are far below China's domestic support price levels. Han despaired that the government's financial burden is overwhelming as it holds massive inventories of grain and sells reserves for less than the acquisition cost. High prices in China have eroded the international competitiveness of its commodities, and the gap between Chinese and inter...

The Ministry of Agriculture reports that China's agricultural imports surged to $61.2 billion in the first half of 2017, while agricultural exports were $34.9 billion. The value of imports was 14.5 percent ahead of the same period last year, and exports were up 3 percent. Oilseeds were the largest agricultural import category, valued at $20.8 billion in H1 2017. China also imported $2.7 billion in edible oils. Oilseed and edible oil imports were both up more than 26 percent from last year. Livestock imports were $12.4 billion, up 6.5 percent from a year ago. China has trade surpluses in aquatic products and vegetables. (The statistics do not report a number of processed foods, beverages, and live animals.) China agricultural imports and exports, January-June 2017 Category Imports y-o-y change Exports y-o-y change Bil. $ percent Bil. $ percent Agricultural products 61.22 14.5 34.92 3 Cereal grains 3.29 -2...