Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

Hong Kong holding company WH Group plans to publicly list its U.S.-based Smithfield Foods subsidiary, according to a plan proposed to the Hong Kong stock exchange. After buying up all Smithfield's shares at a premium in 2013--thus removing it from the NYSE--WH Group may have some buyer's remorse. Its Chinese boss may be hoping to generate another payday from investors excited by stories of U.S.-China pork synergies and worldwide distribution. (Smithfield it will still be a subsidiary of WH Group after a public listing.) WH Group's 2013 acquisition of Smithfield enriched its Chinese boss, his cronies, and venture capital bros from Wall Street, Hong Kong and Singapore. At the time WH's Chinese billionaire boss, Wan Long, made a vague statement about melding the Chinese subsidiary's extensive distribution network with Smithfield's production technology and safety standards to create a global meat supplier, but the rationale for that acquisition was never clear...an...

More than 80 percent of Chinese consumers are interested in purchasing imported goods, according to a " 2024 white paper on Chinese cross-border import consumption trends " released in June by a large Chinese e-commerce company and a multinational marketing company. The paper was a promotion of the Chinese company's cross-border e-commerce platforms as a means for foreign products to enter the Chinese market.  The paper said 56 percent of Chinese consumers recognize the value of international brands and products of foreign origin as signs of quality. The "white paper" listed beauty and skin care, personal care, nutrition and health, maternal and child care, and food and beverages as the main categories of imported goods purchased by consumers during the past year. Consumers pay attention to the ingredients, taste, health and convenience when purchasing food and beverages. Imports have a significant role in China's agricultural and food economy even during a ...

China's agricultural output grew 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2024 according to GDP figures released this week by the National Bureau of Statistics . This was slower than overall GDP growth of 5 percent reported for the first half of the year. By comparison, industrial output was 6 percent as China reverted to its old economic model of churning out manufactured products at a pace that far exceeds the domestic economy's ability to consume them. The 3.7-percent growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing reported by the Bureau seems implausible when looking at its components reported by the Bureau's rural survey office . Summer grain output, consisting mainly of winter wheat harvested in the summer, grew only 2.5 percent. Meat output grew only 0.6 percent, weighed down by a 1.7-percent decline in pork output and a -0.9-percent year-on-year drop in mutton output. Milk output grew 3.4 percent and egg output grew 2.7 percent, two bright spots but slower than the...