Urbanization challenges food strategy

Source:Agencies Published: 2013-3-25 22:58:04

The Chinese government has to pay more attention to food security as homegrown grain production becomes increasingly insufficient to meet domestic demand.

Although grain production in China continues to expand, the country's grain import volume increased 156.7 percent year-on-year to 8.73 million tons in 2012, official data show. At the same time, the grain self-sufficiency rate sank to just 88.4 percent, meaning that roughly 190 million Chinese now have to be fed with grain from overseas.

This situation is mainly due to China's urbanization efforts, which have increased demand for grain while also leaving less land available for agricultural production. At the same time, China's grain prices continue to rise because of the strengthening yuan and higher minimum purchasing prices set by the government, making foreign grain an attractive option for Chinese traders.

As urbanization accelerates, inflation will continue to push up domestic grain prices across China, meaning that the circumstances we are seeing now are likely here to stay.

The author is Yu Xubo, president of China National Oils, Foodstuffs and Cereals Corp.

 

 



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