Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

Chinese officials have ordered state-owned companies to resume purchase of rice from farmers in northeastern provinces as they juggle the priorities of coronavirus prevention and forestalling a rice-marketing disaster. Sinograin, the Chinese government's grain reserve corporation, says purchase of rice is about 20 days behind schedule in the northeastern provinces due to the coronavirus epidemic. Sinograin promises to place no limit on buying rice that meets quality standards. Sinograin's Heilongjiang branch says it has opened 12 purchasing points, and others have been directed to reopen soon. The risk of unsold rice molding and sprouting rises as the weather warms, and farmers need cash to plant new crops in the spring. China's National Administration of Grain and Commodity Reserves issued a notice yesterday extending the season for purchasing rice at minimum prices in northeastern provinces to March 31, 2020 to ensure farmers are able to sell the crop they harveste...

China's swine industry is rebuilding after losing a large chunk of its herd to an African swine fever (ASF) during 2018-19, according to a Chinese Agriculture Ministry official's report last week. However, supplies are tight and prices are record-high as many villagers cannot market their hogs and only a few slaughterhouses are in operation. The communist party's "Number one document" made swine industry recovery a major rural policy task for 2020 by issuing a directive to "accelerate recovery of hog production, ensure hog production capacity is basically restored to the previous normal level by the end of 2020." In last week's briefing on the topic , Yang Zhenhai, director of the livestock industry and veterinary bureau, reported that market incentives and policy aid have stimulated a steady recovery, and the industry is making progress in meeting the document's objective. Yang said the inventory of productive sows in 400 counties rose 1.2 p...

China's rice market is in for a very tough year, a "Three Rurals Filling Station" (or "Go Rural") reporter warned this week . The journalist was alarmed to learn from chats and phone calls with rice growers in Heilongjiang Province that sales of the northeastern province's rice has stalled due to a perfect storm of a poor quality crop, a delayed government purchase program, the coronavirus quarantine, and unusual weather. The reporter learned that the virus has spread quickly in Heilongjiang, villages are prohibiting movement of people, and some are using drones to monitor comings and goings. Rice marketing is nearly halted with the absence of traders and trucks. The reporter worried that rice still held by farmers may deteriorate, lose its flavor, and become moldy if held too long. This could result in unsold crops and plunging income, the reporter warned. Heilongjiang Province issued an emergency notice on rice procurement in December 2019 when sales ...

China's rural employment dropped by 9.43 million and urban employment grew by 8.28 million in 2019 as the country continued its transformation from rural to urban according to data reported by the National Bureau of Statistics last week . The number of Chinese people employed in the countryside has fallen 158 million over twenty years, according to data reported by the Bureau. The proportion of workers in the countryside fell from 70 percent in 1999 to 43 percent in 2019. The report noted that overall employment has been declining the last two years along with shrinkage of the working-age population ages 16-64 years old. China's unemployment rate fluctuated between 5.0 and 5.3 percent during 2019, the Bureau said. Unemployment was lowest in Q2 2019, peaked at 5.3% in February and July, fell to 5.1% in October-November and edged up to 5.2 percent in December 2019. The report said job opportunities are plentiful. China: Urban Employment Growth and Rural Decline, ...

In a " letter to farmer friends " Chinese agricultural officials exhorted farmers to go into fields to prepare for spring planting while taking care to wear masks, wash hands, and avoiding congregating in groups. A circular issued by the Ministry today gave similar instructions, warning village officials not to demand unauthorized transport permits or to block roads without approval from county or higher governments in order to ensure that seeds and inputs needed for spring planting can reach villages. While wary of the risk of coronavirus spreading through the countryside, officials are also worried that delayed preparations for spring cultivation could result in a lost harvest. The letter issued by the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center advised farmers, "We cannot let up on prevention," but "spring cultivation cannot be delayed." "Fields need attention--don't lose a moment, don't lose a year," the notice intone...

China is struggling to keep its food system running while controlling movements of people and vehicles to check the spread of the novel coronavirus. Egg producers in Hubei province have been the focus of news media attention. On February 1, Hubei's animal husbandry association told Caixin news that disruptions of feed supplies and transport of eggs had been eased after the province issued a circular that called for allowing trucks carrying agricultural products and daily necessities to travel highways freely when showing their "green channel" permit. An emergency notice calling for maintaining normal production and supplies of livestock products was issued February 3 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs . In order to maintain operations of livestock farms and supply food to consumers, the circular ordered officials to allow passage of trucks carrying: chicks, piglets, and breeding animals animal feeds and raw materials livestock products such as meat,...

Chinese officials are working to avert a food supply crisis in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic that has closed down transportation, kept workers at home, and idled production plants. News media have been ordered to report plentiful food reserves and normal functioning of markets to head off panic-buying. The country's Administration for Food and Commodity Reserves held a January 30 video conference  emphasizing the urgency of food-supply and price-stabilization as "the most urgent political tasks." Leaders instructed provincial and city officials to: release reserves of grain as needed and to inject rice, flour, and cooking oil into city markets to prevent shortages, panic-buying, or spikes in prices set up emergency food supply programs monitor and report supplies and prices on a daily basis  resume food production at "backbone" rice, flour, and edible oil processing companies  move food into cities to prevent shortages, panic-buying and price spi...