China Ag Imports Shrank in 2016

China narrowed its foreign trade deficit in agricultural products during 2016, according to figures reported by its Ministry of Agriculture. Data for January-December 2016 show the value of imports was $111.57 billion, down 4.5 percent from the previous year and the value of exports was $72.99 billion, up 3.3 percent. The deficit of $38.58 billion had narrowed by 16.5%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture's estimates.

China agricultural imports and exports, 2016
	Exports	Imports	Net
Value (Billion US dollars)	72.99	111.57	-38.58
Change from previous year (percent)	3.3	-4.5	-16.5

The volume of soybean, wheat and rice imports for January-December 2016 was up, and the volume of pork imports doubled. Imports of corn, cotton, and sugar fell by about a third. Imports of yarn were also down. Imports of substitutes for corn--barley, sorghum, distillers dried grains, and cassava--all fell dramatically. Beef and milk powder imports rose, but lamb/mutton imports were down slightly. China exported 395,000 metric tons of rice (up 37.5%), 113,000 metric tons of wheat (down 7.4%), and 4,000 metric tons of corn (down 63%). Sunflower oil imports surged by 47% while imports of other vegetable oils shrank by double digits. (Other sources show sunflower oil shipments from Ukraine and Russia account for most of the sunflower oil increase).

China imports of main commodities, 2016
Commodity	Import volume	Change from prev.yr.
	1000 metric tons	Percent
Wheat	3,412	13.5
Corn	3,168	-33.0
Rice	3,562	5.5
Barley	5,005	-53.4
Sorghum	6,648	-37.9
Distillers dried grains	3,067	-55.0
Cassava	7,704	-17.8
Cotton	1,240	-29.5
Yarn (cotton substitute)	1,968	-16.1
Sugar	3,062	-36.8
Soybeans	83,913	2.7
Rapeseed/canola	3,566	-20.2
Other oilseeds	2,050	na
Palm oil	4,478	-24.2
Rapeseed oil	700	-14.1
Sunflower oil	957	47.0
Soybean oil	560	-31.5
Pork	1,620	110.0
Swine offal	1,491	82.5
Beef	580	22.4
Lamb/mutton	220	-1.3
Milk powder	846	15.2

The Ministry gave only a partial accounting of the value of imports and exports by category. Oilseeds and livestock were the two largest agricultural import categories by value, but together they accounted for 54 percent of the total import value. The value of oilseed imports declined, reflecting lower prices. The largest agricultural export item reported was vegetables, but their $14.7 billion value accounted for only 20% of the total agricultural export value. Vegetable export value was up 11%. Fruit was the second-leading export item listed, yet China's fruit imports were also significant. The value of fruit imports was roughly equal to the value of grain imports last year.

China agricultural import and export value, 2016
Category	Imports		Exports
	Billion dollars	Change (%)	Billion dollars	Change (%)
Oilseeds	37.0	-3.5	1.4	-3.0
Vegetables	0.5	2.0	14.7	11.0
Fruit	5.8	-1.0	7.1	3.6
Cereal grains	5.7	-39.2	0.5	13.6
Livestock	23.4	14.5	5.6	-4.2
Edible oils	5.1	-15.5
Cotton	1.8	-34.7
Sugar	1.2	-34.0