Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

Heavy metal-contaminated rice has been turning up in China's market for decades. Officials blame bad actors rather than the system that shovels loans to trusted government-run companies with no market discipline, little oversight, and with protection from nosy journalists--except when it suits authorities' interests to unleash the reporters.  This month a husband-wife team was found guilty of selling "poison rice" by a court in the Guangdong Province city of Yangjiang. The couple named Zhu and Yan was sentenced to 15 and 10 years in prison, respectively, and ordered to pay 87 million yuan in penalties. According to news media , over the course of 8 months in 2019 Zhu and Yan purchased 5,884 metric tons of rice with excessive levels of cadmium from a granary in Hunan Province operated by the national grain reserve. Their contract specified that the rice had to be used as animal feed and could not enter the market for human food, but Zhu and Yan were accused of knowingl...

China is waging war on meat and seafood smuggling as authorities pile on barriers to legal imports that include strict approvals, reams of documentation, and onerous covid testing, disinfection and tracking. Chinese state-controlled media have reported a series of smuggler interceptions this year from just about every coastal province. Several articles reveal there is a national crackdown on smuggling underway. Coast guard authorities board a ship in Shandong Province suspected of smuggling in March 2022. Source: Xinhua . Official media reported that the coast guard had intercepted 75 ships smuggling over 8000 metric tons of frozen products from January 1 to March 15 this year.  Local media in Jiangmen City in Guangdong Province reported that the coast guard intercepted two boats loaded with 70 metric tons of beef and tripe packed in white bags on May 25 and 27. The products were valued at 7 million yuan (over $1 million). In April, Guangdong's anti-smuggling office reported 398...

China's agriculture ministry launched a multi-pronged rural investment program in a teleconference broadcast to officials all over the country on June 9. The program is part of a national economic stabilization program ordered by the country's State Council leadership. Local officials were ordered to resolutely carry out orders from the central communist party leadership to: focus on stabilizing grain production  expand soybean and oilseed production  firm up supplies of seeds, land, and machinery as the foundation for agriculture  nurture industry chains that produce, process and market local specialty products  implement a rural construction action plan move ahead on key tasks in agricultural green development  These are all initiatives Chinese officials have already prioritized this year for "rural revitalization." Officials were ordered to raise the political position (of spending on rural projects) and be proactive in addressing "pain points," blockage...

China's wheat harvest is up against Covid lockdowns as officials also cope with burning fields in a "wheat battle."  As the summer harvest swung into high gear in late May, local officials in wheat-growing provinces issued directives that the "summer grain battle" must be won. Urgent orders to both uphold virus-prevention and ensure a good harvest reveal the dilemma Chinese officials face: upholding "zero covid" while also ensuring a big wheat crop.  Zero-covid and food security objectives are in conflict because China's wheat harvest relies on a massive movement of people. Many rural migrants working in cities are unable to return to their villages to harvest and sell their crops due to covid lockdowns, and those who do return must meet strict requirements for registration and prove they are covid-negative. Meanwhile, constant covid-testing must be carried out on crews of wheat-harvesters traveling from village to village to cut the wheat. The mar...