China to become biggest agricultural importer
February 27, 2012 Category Foreign trade, Weekly
China is expected to become the world’s biggest importer of agricultural produce in two to three years, as China’s agricultural imports surged nearly 30% last year, according to Cheng Guoqiang at the State Council’s Development Research Center. “China took only a year to see an increase of USD20 billion in farm imports [last year],” Cheng said. “In the past, it usually took two to four years.” The Ministry of Agriculture said on February 6 that China imported nearly USD95 billion worth of farm produce last year, with its agricultural trade deficit surging 47% to USD34 billion. At the ceremony for China’s USD4.3 billion order for American soya beans in Iowa during Vice President Xi Jinping’s U.S. trip, Assistant Minister of Commerce Yu Jianhua said China imported 58% of America’s soya bean production and 36% of its cotton in 2010. “China has become the biggest single foreign market for U.S. soya beans and cotton,” he said. Chen Mengshan, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Chief Economist, said China was for more than 95% self-sufficient with regards to major food commodities such as rice, wheat and corn. But he added, “compared with developed countries, we’re 20 percentage points lower in terms of science and technology’s contribution to agriculture.”
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