Beijing | Reuters — Around 400 Chinese citizens have signed a letter to protest the purchase of Swiss-based seeds and pesticides company Syngenta by state-owned ChemChina, saying the deal would eventually lead to genetically modified crops being sown across swathes of the country. Critics of genetically modified organisms argue the technology poses risks to public […] Read more
Chinese citizens protest ChemChina-Syngenta deal
China’s farmers switch to soy amid corn market reform
Reuters — Wang Zhonghai, a 49-year-old farmer in China’s top corn producing province of Heilongjiang, plans to switch 80 per cent of his land to cultivate soybeans this year as the government ends a near-decade-old corn price support scheme. China announced last week it will stop its corn stockpiling program and allow markets to set […] Read more
China to end state corn stockpiling, free up prices
Beijing | Reuters — China plans to scrap its corn stockpiling scheme and allow markets to set prices for the grain, pushing to boost efficiency on its farms and to narrow a gap between local and international prices that has sparked a surge of cheaper imports. The government will instead subsidize corn growers and encourage […] Read more
Blackleg, big stocks seen behind China-Canada canola conflict
Reuters — A “scientific disagreement” between Canada and China over the risk of transmitting the blackleg fungus is behind China’s move to raise its standard for Canadian canola imports, an industry official involved in discussions said. But some traders say the real reason for a higher standard that may slow Chinese imports is the country’s […] Read more
China plans to cut domestic corn prices to shrink stockpiles
Beijing | Reuters — Beijing plans to cut local corn prices for a second year as it pushes to reignite stalled demand from its crisis-hit grain processors and whittle down the world’s biggest corn stockpile, industry sources said. In its latest move to boost a sector that has struggled with the world’s most expensive domestic […] Read more
China to let land lie fallow as grain stocks surge
Beijing/Reuters – China’s ruling Communist Party has for the first time proposed to let land lie fallow in some areas to ease pressure on exhausted water and land resources while grain stocks are near record levels, state media reported on Wednesday. After years of excessive cultivation and bumper grain harvests, China is facing severe shortages […] Read more
China said planning bigger role for market in grains pricing
Beijing | Reuters –– China wants to give the market a bigger role in setting farm prices and move away from a controversial state stockpiling policy that has led to bulging grain inventories and a surge of cheap imports, a top agricultural official said Tuesday. That policy, in which grains are bought at artificially high […] Read more
Analysts expect China to issue grain import quotas after state sales end
Beijing | Reuters — China’s grain imports could plummet this year, with the government determined to sell off as much of its bulging state grain reserves as possible before it finally grants mills permission to buy overseas, analysts said. In previous years, private mills were normally allocated grain import quotas in January, allowing them to […] Read more
China expected to boost imports of protein-rich wheat
Beijing/Singapore | Reuters — Chinese wheat buyers are likely to step up imports of higher quality grains to meet a domestic shortfall even though total overseas purchases are forecast to tumble this year due to bumper production at home, analysts and traders said. China, the world’s biggest wheat producer and consumer, has seen output climb […] Read more
Battling graft, China to overhaul grains import quota system
Beijing | Reuters — China plans to revamp the scheme it uses to allocate quotas for agricultural imports, as part of efforts to stamp out corruption and to rein in record state grain stockpiles, according to government and industry sources. The low-tariff quotas, which are sanctioned under China’s membership of the World Trade Organization, are […] Read more
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