Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

A March 15 exposé on Chinese consumer issues by China's Central TV highlighted the illegal use of banned feed additives in producing sheep. So-called "lean meat powders" (瘦肉精) that promote weight gain in animals were targeted by a CCTV journalist. These medications were originally developed to treat asthma and other breathing issues, but they also act like a steroid by promoting growth of muscle in animals. China has banned all beta agonists since 2002 because one of them--clenbuterol--can cause heart palpitations if ingested in high concentrations. The reporter said he discovered dealers selling mutton from trucks parked at night just outside a food market in Zhengzhou, capital of China's Henan Province. A dealer who sells 200-300 carcasses per night said the meat could not be sold inside the market because the sheep had been fed a medication that would cause it to fail inspections. The dealer would not elaborate, but he did reveal that the meat came from Qing County...

Statistical fraud was uncovered in a month-long investigation of China's Agriculture Ministry last year. This revelation was made by an investigation team from the National Bureau of Statistics that looked into the agricultural ministry's statistics in August 2020. The team  reported its results to Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Yu Kangzhen last week .  The discovery of falsification and fraud in rural statistics was revealed quietly after the communist party had already declared complete victory over rural poverty last year and celebrated a "faster than expected" recovery of the swine herd in 2020. Both achievements were declared on the basis of statistical indicators. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was criticized for not fully implementing the communist party central committee's pronouncements on statistical work and for failing to disseminate the regulations and opinions throughout its statistical bureaucracy. The Statistics Bure...

A resurgence of African swine fever during the winter months has interrupted the rebound of China's hog industry. The slowdown cooled off surging corn prices and sent soybean meal prices into a tailspin.  According to surveys conducted by the "My Ag Commodities" site , sow numbers fell about 3-4 percent each month in January-February 2021 as hog production capacity suffered losses to varying degrees in regions across China. African swine fever and piglet diarrhea increased death rates, and panicked farmers sent numerous juvenile pigs to the abattoir, contributing to the recent decline in hog prices. With sow numbers declining and piglet prices rising in March, pork supplies are likely to be tight again in six months when the peak consumption season returns.  Source: China National Bureau of Statistics raw material purchase prices. A veterinary advice column blames the resurgence of ASF on the increased stocking density of animals, extremely cold weather, and appearance o...

A country that hides poisoned soil, keeps food supplies secret, covers up animal diseases and is unable to count farmland, crops, or animals says it is tracking millions of imported food shipments with anal precision. A government that once covered up toxic infant formula until the 2008 Olympics were over is now sounding an alarm about the dangers of imported food. China's customs administration said last month they have discovered traces of the COVID-19 virus in 79 out of 1.49 MILLION samples taken from packages of imported frozen food since last year. That suggests a 0.0056 percent chance of encountering a virus. The chances of encountering a live virus are even lower, since most of these samples appear to have detected inactive remains of viruses. Authorities said: They had suspended imports from 129 foreign suppliers in 21 countries.  A further 110 companies had voluntarily stopped shipping to China.  Border inspectors have disinfected 18.98 million shipments of imported ...

China's leaders want to create modern scaled-up farms but they also want to keep peasants permanently tethered to their tiny plots of land through "collective" ownership. This system is portrayed as a security blanket for the rural population, but its real purpose is to prevent the peasants from causing trouble in cities. While leaders fret over "hollow villages" and idle farmland, these phenomena are the intended outcomes of official policy that calls for maintaining rural cubbyholes to stash peasants out of sight when things get tough.  This year's "Document Number One" on rural policy proclaims the great historical significance of "decisive victory" in the war on rural poverty, then declares a massive rural construction project to create a livable, modern, scenic countryside during the next 5-year plan. The document obsesses on seeds and land zoning to maintain "food security," and it calls for "green" measures to c...