Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China is pushing food production into its arid northwestern regions as arable land disappears and water tables are tapped out in eastern and central parts of the country. One new initiative aims to turn China's remote northwestern territory of Xinjiang into a new granary for the rest of China. Last year the State Administration of Grain announced that Xinjiang will take advantage of abundant land, water, and good climate to "excavate" the region's grain production potential to go beyond producing enough grain to meet its own needs to become a national granary that produces and stores a surplus for use of the State. The initiative calls for Xinjiang to maintain a minimum 79 million mu of agricultural land--including 63.2 million mu of "permanent basic farmland", to upgrade irrigation, build "high standard fields," develop grain and oilseed industry clusters, and reduce grain waste. The plan aims for grain storage capacity of 1.5 million metric tons...

Torrential rains drenched wheat just before harvest in China's biggest wheat-growing province, causing sprouting and mold problems. Now officials face challenges of buying up low-grade wheat at a price that keeps farmers happy, keeping moldy wheat out of the flour supply, funding wheat purchases after financial coffers were drained by last year's zero-covid policies, and forestalling fraud as vast price spreads open up between different grades and regions. Sprouted wheat in Henan Province. Henan Province had heavy rainstorms during the last week of May, especially in southern and western parts of the province. These were the heaviest rains at harvest time since 1961 according to financial news outlet Cai Lian She . The excessive moisture caused wheat stalks to keel over, prompted wheat kernels to prematurely send out shoots and wet wheat became susceptible to mold growth. Depending on the degree of damage, the sprouted wheat is downgraded and may only be useable as feed. Wheat ...

This year dozens of agricultural officials have come to China to talk about cooperation. A compilation of news reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs web site shows 29 meetings with foreign dignitaries (full list below), mostly visits with Minister Tang Renjian in Beijing, but also including Vice Minister Ma Youxiang's trip to the western pacific and Australia, regional meetings of Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations hosted in China, a meeting with Russia on fishing, and a meeting with Latin American diplomats to show off Chinese technology at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.  China's new friends include many developing countries in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. Pacific Islands--Samoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati--are well represented, reflecting China's hunger for fish, ambitions to control the Pacific right up to Australia's doorstep, and rewards for switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. C...

An "American food hegemony" (美国粮食霸权) narrative seems to be creeping into official Chinese communist doctrine as Chinese leaders look to create an external enemy--probably to divert attention from their own mistakes on covid, ill-considered support for Russia's Ukraine invasion, soaring debt and youth unemployment.  An October 2022 Economic Daily commentary asserted that, "The shadow of the United States has been behind every global food crisis," and accused the U.S. of being the "black hand behind the scenes" in the current "global food crisis."  According to the narrative, the United States disingenuously promotes free trade in agricultural goods while abusing its monopoly power to create global food crises in 1978, 2008 and 2022 in order to cement its dominance and control over other countries.  Pieces of the food hegemony story have been rattling around in China for two decades and are now being formed into a standard narrative. Elements...

China's pig farmers are learning to live with a weakening but still widespread African swine fever (ASF) virus. Chinese officials--who always prioritize China's image over everything else--have lost interest in ASF now that it is no longer a crisis. There are disagreements about the extent of African swine fever infections, but no one disputes that the disease is endemic in the country and has joined the cocktail of pathogens that circulate in China--the world's biggest pork producer...and the world's largest petri dish. There has been controversy over the extent of Chinese ASF infections since March when two securities analysts warned that a survey questionnaire showed widespread infection in northern China. Other articles immediately tried to debunk the report by quoting one or two farm managers who told them infections had peaked in December-January but said their company's farms were no longer experiencing serious problems. The agriculture ministry warned agains...

A photo of the Director General of the United Nations Food agency and China's agriculture minister appears to convey a message that China and the UN are one and the same. The photo shows Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director Qu Dongyu--a former Vice Minister of Agriculture in China--standing side by side with Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian in identical poses, wearing identical suits, and even similar body shapes and hairstyles--only the neckties are different--with the Chinese and UN flags also side-by-side in the background. Neither the photo nor the meeting report were posted on the English version of the Agriculture Ministry's web site, so we can conclude this was meant for a Chinese audience. China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs publicity photo of UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Qu Dongyu and China Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian. Qu Dongyu was elected Director General of the UN'...

China's Ag Minister met with Iranian and U.S. officials last week. The contrasting reports on the meetings perhaps reveal who China thinks its friends are.  On February 15, 2023, Tang Renjian, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs met with Iranian Agriculture Minister Seyyed Javad Sadati Nejad in conjunction with Iranian President Raisi's meeting with Xi Jinping. The meeting focused on Minister Tang's proposals for China-Iran cooperation in agriculture to support the "consensus" reached by Presidents Xi and Raisi, according to an article posted on the English Ministry of Agriculture site (it also appeared on the Chinese version ). Minister Tang proposed holding a policy dialogue, and suggested exchanges in dryland agriculture, new plant varieties, soil health, and trade cooperation. The Agriculture Ministry publicists thought it was very important for the world to see the Chinese agriculture minister joking around with his Iranian counterpart: On February 17,...