Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

The Chinese propaganda machine is pushing dietary change with a slogan: "Appropriately reduce oil and increase intake of legumes and dairy." State media have been running a story touting the health benefits of dietary guidelines for Chinese citizens published 4 years ago . The article/video features the Agriculture Minister's recitation of the slogan at last month's "two sessions" and advice from a Yunnan Province hospital physician on how to adjust eating habits. The article emphasized the health benefits of increasing intake of legumes and dairy while keeping total calories and fat intake in check.  The guidelines recommend limiting edible oil intake to 25-to-30 g. per day, warning that the limits can be easily exceeded if one consumes excessive amounts of meat and fried foods. The Yunnan physician recommended avoiding deep-fried foods, cutting back on animal fats, and steaming, boiling, stewing, or quick-frying to reduce oil intake. She recommended using...

The food component of China's CPI for September 2025 was down -4.4% from a year ago, while the nonfood component was up 0.7%, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics . The overall CPI was down -0.3% from a year ago. Prices were down from a year ago for most food categories. Pork (-17%), vegetables (-13.7%), and eggs (-11.9%) stood out with the largest year-over-year declines in price. Fresh fruit (-4.2%), edible oils and milk (both -1.4%) and grains (-0.7%) were also down year-over-year.  While food prices in September were down from a year ago, prices were up 0.7% from the previous month (August). Vegetables, eggs, and fruit were up from the previous month. The Food CPI is cyclical. This month's year-over-year declines reflect a reversal of increases that occurred a year ago, especially for pork and vegetables. A year ago, China's Food CPI was up +3.3% in September 2024, and it was down -3.2% in September 2023. Pork, in particular, remains highly cyclica...

Chinese officials are working to avert a food supply crisis in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic that has closed down transportation, kept workers at home, and idled production plants. News media have been ordered to report plentiful food reserves and normal functioning of markets to head off panic-buying. The country's Administration for Food and Commodity Reserves held a January 30 video conference  emphasizing the urgency of food-supply and price-stabilization as "the most urgent political tasks." Leaders instructed provincial and city officials to: release reserves of grain as needed and to inject rice, flour, and cooking oil into city markets to prevent shortages, panic-buying, or spikes in prices set up emergency food supply programs monitor and report supplies and prices on a daily basis  resume food production at "backbone" rice, flour, and edible oil processing companies  move food into cities to prevent shortages, panic-buying and price spi...

A commentary in Farmer's Daily on China's food and nutrition plan for 2014-2020 raises concerns about wide disparities in nutrition. The country has cities filled with unhealthy fat people who coexist with malnourished people in poverty-stricken villages. The Ministry of Health reported that 30.6% of adults over age 18 were overweight during 2010 and 12% were obese. This can lead to hypertension, diabetes, and lypsidemia. These diseases are spreading to younger and younger age groups. Some 260 million people were diagnosed with chronic disease, 19% of the population. Excessive calorie intake combined with low physical activity were reported as the major reasons for the increased number of overweight people. The commentary suggests that change in the dietary structure, reducing excessive food intake, and more physical activity are needed to control weight gain. The commentator calls for better guidance on nutrition. There are too many tempting foods in the market, says the...