Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

A global network of high-standard free trade areas is one of the components of China's 14th five-year plan.  A recent Farmers Daily article  by a staff member at the agriculture ministry's trade promotion center explained the strategic role of agriculture in China's pursuit of regional free trade agreements (FTAs). The article appears to be part of a flurry of articles aimed at boosting China's ambitions to join the RCEP agreement set to take effect next year.  The author explained that FTAs and the multilateral trading system are two wheels of the globalized economy. In 2002, China began negotiating its first FTA with ASEAN, the southeast Asian trading bloc--immediately after joining the WTO. By the end of 2020 China had 19 FTAs with 26 countries and regions. Agriculture plays an important role in China's FTA strategy, the author claimed.  Agriculture has generally played a relatively minor role in China's FTAs. A perusal of China's FTA partners listed on a...

Chinese officials are promising to rescue the global trading system as they celebrate the country's 20th year as a World Trade Organization (WTO) member. While China spent its early years in the WTO watching and learning, confident leaders now seem to be maneuvering toward a more proactive role as a leader of the organization.  Last week  a forum was held by China's agriculture ministry  to discuss the country's agricultural development in the 20 years since it joined the WTO. Deputy Agriculture Minister Ma Youxiang emphasized that China's agriculture had "withstood" multiple tests of a global food crisis, world financial crisis, and the covid-19 pandemic. Ma went on to praise China's achievement of "stability," and insisted that China's agriculture has become more globally competitive. Ma added that China has also enhanced its ability to participate in food and agricultural governance, code for China's ambitions to take a more proactive ...

China's national grain reserve company signed a soybean purchase agreement last week that exemplifies Xi Jinping's approach to creating an "open" economy: create compliant Chinese behemoths big enough to negotiate deals that neutralize the "unfair" advantage of multinationals.  On November 6, 2020, China's national grain reserve corporation, Sinograin, signed a soybean purchase framework agreement committing to purchase soybeans from Brazil and Argentina. Suppliers signing the agreement included the so-called "ABCD" grain traders--ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus--plus China's COFCO International, ECTP (Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners), state-owned chemical giant Sinochem, and Sinochem-owned Swiss seed/chemical manufacturer Syngenta.  The announcement of the soybean purchase agreement was a piece of political theater to promote Xi's "opening" initiative. The announcement revealed no details of the agreement. The arti...

The Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reported that China's agricultural imports for January-July 2020 totaled $96.2 billion, up 13 percent from the same period a year earlier. The increase came despite an economic slowdown and logistics disruptions during this year's covid-19 pandemic. China's agricultural exports totaled $41.9 billion, down 3.3 percent from a year earlier. The Center did not report trade numbers for individual trading partners. Livestock products were the largest component of agricultural imports reported by the Center. The $28.3-billion livestock total exceeded the $23.8-billion value of oilseed imports for the first time. The 42.2-percent increase in livestock import value was stimulated by the country's huge meat supply deficit after last year's African swine fever epidemic decimated China's swine herd. China has a net trade surplus for vegetables and aquatic products, but imports ...

China's reporting on the Phase I trade agreement's agricultural purchases from the United States has been limited to comments at a December 13 press conference made by Vice Minister of Agriculture Han Jun and other officials. The 11-pm press conference featured sub-cabinet officials: the deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and vice ministers of commerce, finance, and agriculture. Officials emphasized that negotiations with the United States were based on principles of equality and mutual respect. They revealed that the agreement includes chapters addressing intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agricultural products, financial services, exchange rates and transparency, trade expansion, bilateral assessments, and dispute settlement. They told journalists that the text of the agreement will be released after completion of legal reviews and translation checks, and a time, place and other arrangements for signing the agreement w...

China relied on Brazil for 77 percent of its December 2018 soybean imports, close to Brazil's 75-percent share for calendar year 2018. China's reduced imports of U.S. soybeans during 2018 slightly exceeded its increased imports of Brazilian beans. No new suppliers filled the gap left by China's shunning of U.S. soybeans during 2018. Overall, China's imports of soybeans fell by 7.5 mmt for the calendar year. China soybean imports, December 2018 Imported  from: December 2018 y-o-y change Jan-Dec 2018 y-o-y change 1,000 metric tons Brazil 4,386 2,444 66,082 15,156 United States 69 -6,120 16,640 -16,212 Canada 808 282 1,792 -257 Argentina 187 -453 1,464 -5,119 Uruguay 185 32 1,199 -1,373 Russia 84 -6 816 309 Kazakhstan 0 -2 17 10 Ethiopia 0 -2 18 3 Ukraine 0 184 1 16...

China's December 2018 agricultural imports were down 9 percent year-on-year. Impacts of the trade war peaked during the month as the value of agricultural products arriving from the United States plummeted 80 percent year-on-year. Imports of several feedstuffs and industrial raw materials from all trade partners plunged. Robust demand for commodities such as beef, dairy, fruit and nuts contributed to 9-percent growth in the overall value of China's agricultural imports for the entire 2018 calendar year. December 2018 data from China Customs Administration's monthly bulletin released today indicate China imported about $11.5 billion worth of agricultural and food items during the month (down 9 percent from a year earlier). The calendar year total was $145.2 billion (up 9 percent from a year earlier). China agricultural imports by value, December 2018 Item December 2018 y-o-y  change January-December 2018 y-o-y  cha...