Skip to main content

Leadership Change at China's Ag Ministry

addendum: Tang Renjian was appointed Minister of Agriculture December 26, 2020.

China's Minister of Agriculture mostly disappeared from the Ministry's web site at the end of November. While Han Changfu remains Minister of Agriculture for the time being, his more important position of communist party secretary has been handed over to Tang Renjian in a minor shake-up of personnel in Beijing. 

A one-sentence posting on the Ministry's web site said as of December 1 the communist party central committee had decided that Comrade Tang Renjian serves as member and office director of the Central Rural Work Committee and Party secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and that Comrade Han Changfu no longer serves in those positions. 

In: Tang Renjian
Out: Han Chanfu

During the last 3 weeks Han Changfu no longer appeared in any news stories on the ag ministry web site, nor did he appear for meetings with visiting dignitaries. The site still lists him as Minister, however. Tang Renjian was featured only in two sessions where he instructed the Ministry's party organization on priorities in rural work and on an inspection tour in Hubei Province. On each occasion Tang urged listeners to study the remarks of Xi Jinping on rural policy.

Tang Renjian, 58 years old and a native of Chongqing, was most recently governor of Gansu Province since 2017. He now replaces the 66-year-old Han Changfu who has served as Minister of Agriculture since 2009 and was head of the central rural work group for the last 2 years. 

Tang graduated from the Southwest University of Finance and Economics in 1983 and rose through the ranks of the Sichuan government. Tang reportedly studied for a doctorate in economics while he was employed and held the title of "senior economist." He is an adjunct professor at Southwest University of Finance and Economics and at China Agricultural University. 

His big break came in a 1998 posting to the Office of the Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, where he became supervisor. He held top posts in the Guangxi provincial communist party before returning to the Office of the Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs as Deputy Director in 2016 where he succeeded Chen Xiwen in directing rural policy work. Tang has reportedly been a key assistant to two powerful men in Xi Jinping's orbit: Liu He and Wang Yang. 

Tang has been involved in a number of rural policy and poverty alleviation working groups, including the drafting of the 2004 "Document No. 1" that launched China's first program of rural subsidies and cancellation of agricultural taxes. His work has included "Respond to the Challenge of Entering WTO with the Strategy of Unbalanced Competition," "Developing 'Company Agriculture' and Agricultural Companies," "Nurturing Rural Informal Financial Organizations," and "Establishing Agriculture's Tax-Free Era." 

Another rural policy wonk, 57-year-old Han Jun, has also been transferred from his posts as vice minister of agriculture and deputy party secretary where he had served since 2018. Han Jun is now deputy governor and acting governor of Jilin province.

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...
15 comments
Read more

China's 2024 Ag Imports Shrank in Value

China's agricultural imports declined 7.9 percent during 2024 to reach $215 billion, according to data posted on the customs administration website. The 2024 value was lower than each of the 3 preceding years. Agricultural exports were up 4.1 percent to reach $103 billion. Source: Data from China Customs Administration December reports. The top two agricultural import categories by value both declined. Soybeans ($52.75 billion in 2024) fell 10.9 percent, and meat ($23.38 billion) fell 15.1 percent. Cereal grain imports ($15 billion) were down 28 percent and fish & shellfish imports ($18.5 billion) were down 6.2 percent. Edible oils imports ($10.6 billion) were down 17.8 percent. Fruit, rubber, cotton and wool and beverage imports were up for the year. The decline in value of imports partly reflected a decline in prices. Customs reported that the volume of soybean imports for calendar year 2024 reached a record 105 million metric tons, up 5.6 million metric tons from the previou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Feed Boom & Cratering Grain Imports; China Leaves Us Guessing

In the first half of 2025 China increased its meat and egg production by a combined 1.58 million metric tons (mmt) from a year earlier, a moderate increase of 2.5%. Meanwhile, animal feed output during H1 2025 compiled from feed industry association reports increased by 14.5 mmt (+10 percent) from a year ago. China's 14.5-mmt increase feed output growth outpaced the 1.58-mmt growth in meat production by a ratio of 9:1. It's hard to make sense of these inconsistent figures.  [note: The June 2025 feed industry association report has a 7.7% yoy growth rate for feed output which is inconsistent with the 10.1% growth shown here calculated by comparing data from monthly reports issued last year. Growth rates for complete feed were 8.1%, concentrates -1.5%; additives 6.9%. These inconsistencies are common in the feed industry association reports, a reason for doubting the accuracy of this data.] There is no boom in demand for feed ingredients to fuel a huge increase in feed production...
Post a Comment
Read more