Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China had 128.6 million hectares of arable land in 2023 according to the Ministry of Natural Resources' Communique on Natural Resources released last week. That was a 1-million-hectare increase from the previous year's value published in the China Statistical Yearbook . In contrast, the area sown in crops dropped by about 1 million hectares to 169 million hectares in 2023, seemingly in conflict with the increase in cultivated land area reported by the Ministry of Land Resources. The area sown to crops had peaked at nearly 170 million hectares in 2022.  The area sown to crops in China exceeds the cultivated area because some land is planted intensively by planting 2 or 3 crops each year on the same field. (In contrast, the amount of harvested crop area in the United States is substantially less than the total area of cropland because a substantial amount of U.S. land is left fallow or put into conservation uses.) There is no explanation for why the rising trend in sown area ...

China is cracking down on a black market for fur animal carcasses by turning them into animal feed ingredients. A pilot program was proposed by agricultural officials as part of an initiative to create substitutes for soybean meal in animal feed. Two years later the situation on the ground doesn't look much like the nice, neat program designed by agricultural officials. Shanghai news publication  The Paper  posted a video of a “shadow visit" to expose a black market for carcasses of foxes and raccoon dogs raised for their fur  ( full text version here ). The 34-minute video showed lines of outdoor metal cages holding foxes and raccoon dogs on muddy ground covered with feces, warehouses piled with skinned carcasses, bags of fox and raccoon dog legs prepared for shipment to southern China, and a rudimentary oil refining shed where fat from carcasses is mixed into oil used in animal feed.  screenshot from video by The Paper The video focused on fraudulent sale...

China's first customs data for 2025 feature a 97-percent decline in corn and wheat imports from a year earlier. Soybean imports were up slightly by volume (but down in value), and dairy, pork, poultry, and seafood imports rebounded year-on-year. Life was less sweet in China with a 93.7% decline in sugar imports, and drinking appears to be up as wine and beer imports posted gains.   China's agricultural imports for January-February 2025 were down 14.7 percent from a year earlier. The value of farm and food goods imported for the first two months of 2025 totaled $30.7 billion, down $5.26 billion from the same period in 2024. China's exports of agricultural products during January-February totaled $15.2 billion, up $393 million from a year earlier.  Data from China Customs Administration website. As usual, soybeans were the largest component of China's agricultural imports during January-February 2025 with a value of $6.3 billion. Meat imports were valued at $4.1 billion, ...

A clamp-down on China's grain imports since last year has more to do with Chinese officials' anxiety about low grain prices than trade war posturing. Officials in China worry that low prices could undercut two of this year's goals for rural policy. Low prices could erode production incentives ahead of spring planting--resulting in a decline in grain output--and lead to a recurrence of rural poverty--which Xi Jinping claimed to have conquered 5 years ago.  An article last week in  Farmers Daily --the communist party's mouthpiece on farm issues--described how Chinese authorities are coordinating a clamp-down on grain imports with domestic market interventions to boost grain prices. All the elements in the article matched paragraph 7 in the party's "Central Document No. 1" section on agricultural supply management without referring to the document. Farmers Daily celebrated a sharp drop in grain imports that began last summer. After tailing off during the fir...

High egg prices are a hot topic in the United States. China, in contrast, has a glut of eggs and depressed prices.  The March 14, 2025 USDA Agricultural Marketing Service weekly eggs market overview reported that U.S. egg prices continued declining during the second week of March as the supply situation improved. No significant highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks have occurred in March and U.S. egg demand is relatively light. The average U.S. wholesale price for Grade A large white eggs was $4.15 per dozen, down sharply from their February peak.  Until 2021, Chinese and U.S. wholesale egg prices had been roughly equal at about $1-to-$2 per dozen with no trend. U.S. prices fluctuated more than Chinese prices, so the U.S. price was sometimes higher, sometimes lower than the Chinese price after converting them to dollars per dozen.  Chinese prices converted using monthly exchange rate and assuming 0.6 kg per dozen. Sources: USDA and China Ministry of Agricult...

At  a symposium on agricultural foreign investment held by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs  (MARA) this week companies complained about financing difficulties, limited market access, and lack of information about laws, policies and market environments in target countries.  The meeting was attended by representatives of 42 Chinese companies engaged in seed, livestock, fishing, and crop production, as well as officials from powerful government organizations such as the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, the Foreign Ministry, and various MARA offices and government-affiliated units. Presentations by state-owned grain trader COFCO and seed producer Zhongnongfa Seed Group discussing their experiences and difficulties were featured.  According to MARA's description of the meeting, agricultural enterprises have overcome difficulties in recent years and played an important role in building China's "Belt and Road", building ...