Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China's plan to modernize Africa's agriculture received much praise and fanfare at a China-Africa agricultural cooperation forum held in China's Hainan Island this week.  The "Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization" (along with plans for the continent's industrialization and personnel training) was unveiled by Xi Jinping at the August BRICS forum in South Africa . The plan includes technology transfer by Chinese experts, building a China-Africa tropical agriculture R&D center, establishing a China-Africa R&D innovation alliance, training African technicians and managers, and promoting China-Africa trade in agricultural goods.  China implies that its plan is superior to western approaches to aiding Africa. The plan's preamble announces that "China is ready to further explore new pathways of agricultural cooperation with Africa." China bills its plan as "south-south cooperation": one "developing countr...

Vietnam has a vaccine for African swine fever (ASF). China does not.  ASF is a virus that spreads quickly and causes hemorrhaging and death in most infected pigs. ASF first jumped from Europe to China in 2018. Then the virus jumped over the Chinese border to Vietnam within months after it had reached China. Swine herds were decimated in both countries.  Scientists in Europe and elsewhere had been working on ASF vaccines for many years. Yet by early 2020--about 18 months after the country's first outbreaks--China's Harbin Veterinary Institute  said it had developed a vaccine for ASF  that was safe and effective. The vaccine was a live attenuated vaccine created by deleting genes from the virus. The Institute bragged on its web site:  “The vaccine is currently the most promising vaccine for industrial application and will provide important technical means for the effective prevention and control of African Swine Fever in China and related countries.”  Four mo...

China's heightened concerns about invasive species are adding more red tape and record-keeping requirements to the import process. A new set of requirements for soybean shipments probably contributed to reported delays in customs clearance over the past 6 months.  On July 22, 2023 China customs announced  that each port of entry will conduct a 3-year campaign to crack down on invasive species in imported cargoes and smuggling. According to the announcement growth in international trade has resulted in a growing number of invasive species entering the country, presenting a growing risk. In the first half of 2023 authorities said they intercepted 599 species of nonnative animals and plants, including giant centipedes, savage harvest ants, and spotted salamanders, and "exotic pets" brought in by criminal gangs. Problems include illegal mailing of seeds, plants hidden in shipments of toys, and smuggled tiger bones.  More than 20 years ago, scientists from China's Academy ...

A video circulating in China last week may be the latest example of emboldened rural officials clearing aging villagers off collectively owned farmland. These enclosures with Chinese characteristics can be motivated by the need to increase productivity, lucrative opportunities to grow ornamental shrubs, or just plain corruption. The only power villagers have to assert their interests is their sheer numbers...and that's exactly what communist leaders are most afraid of. The video  appeared to show dozens of villagers stealing corn from a large field in Henan Province. A corn combine unable to complete its harvest sat idle as elderly villagers scooped up ears of corn into bags and loaded them into motorized carts parked in the field. Sirens sounded as police showed up but there were too many people to arrest. The operator of an idled corn combine unable to complete his harvesting work took a video of villagers fighting over a bag of corn in the field. While the videos circulati...

Chinese State media celebrated growing purchases of Brazilian corn as a strategy for breaking the "dominant position" of U.S. corn in China's market. In an October 10 article, " China adjusts corn imports to shift toward Brazil, U.S. loses 'dominant position' ," China's strongly nationalist  Global Times  said, "China is now carrying out corn import diversification to change the excessive reliance on the U.S. as a single supplier." Citing Refinitiv data,  Global Times was thrilled to report that August 2023 imports of U.S. corn were down 83% from a year earlier while corn imports from Brazil went from zero last August to 580,000 metric tons in August 2023. Moreover, Global Times reported that imports of Brazilian corn would rise to 1.22 million metric tons in September while imports of U.S. corn would drop to 70,000 metric tons. China approved Brazilian corn for import late in 2022. Brazilian customs data show that 1 million tons a month ...

A feed mill in China's Guangdong Province has been fined by authorities for using unapproved genetically modified corn as raw material. Could this be a signal that Chinese officials are ready to crack down on corn imports? The announcement was featured in news media as one of 10 "representative cases" of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' campaign to "stabilize grain production, protect supply." Authorities say traces of imported GMO corn were found in the company's processing equipment in a sample inspection for GMOs. The feed company had not obtained a license to process agricultural GMOs. The batch of illegally processed corn totaled 31.02 metric tons. The corn had already been processed, but final products had not been sold, according to the description of the case. The company was fined 101,000 yuan (less than $14,000) and products were destroyed. Chinese agricultural authorities announce "representative cases" in GMO crackdow...

"' Borax pork' appears in the market again, serious investigation! " was the headline of a Guangzhou Daily article posted on many Chinese web sites earlier this month--including official Xinhua News. The article warned consumers that inspectors found that market vendors used borax to keep their pork moist and fresh-looking in a food market in south China. This appears to be a straightforward warning to consumers. But picking apart this "news" shows how authorities carefully control reporting of problems to manage public opinion and deflect blame for problems. According to the "borax pork" warning, borax was discovered during a "surprise inspection" of two food market vendors selling meatballs and pork in Panyu--a manufacturing hub and satellite city of Guangzhou in south China. Inspectors seized a box of borax used by a vendor to clean pig intestines, and chemical testing detected borax in some samples of meat. The inspection was carried...