February 2, 2011

China cannot depend on imports for grain security

China cannot rely on imports to guarantee grain security, and that maintaining 95% self-sufficiency for corn, wheat and rice is an essential aspect of its national policy, said Agricultural Minister Han Changfu.

With its consumption of grains dwarfing volumes available for global export, China has to depend on its own output or risk unduly influencing international prices, Han said in the Qiushi Journal, a magazine published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Grains available for trade worldwide total around 250 million tonnes, less than half of China's domestic grain production, Han noted.

The nation's current wheat supply is in slight surplus, while corn supply and demand are balanced and rice is in tight supply, he said.

In addition to China's purchases of international grain often sending prices higher, Han said that grain imports generally are not a good deal due to high transportation costs in the vast country.

China imported a record 54.8 million tonnes of soy and a 15-year-high 1.5 million tonnes of corn in 2010.

Meanwhile, China's grain output increased for a seventh consecutive year in 2010, to 546.4 million tonnes, the National Bureau of Statistics said in December. However, Chen Xiwen, director of the State Council's Office of Rural Work Leading Group, said China's self-sufficiency in grain supply may decline in coming years.

China will need to expand acreage of rice, develop high-quality wheat and increase per-unit output of corn in the 2011-15 period to maintain self-sufficiency, said Chen.

Upgrading land quality, strengthening the seed sector and raising the contribution of science and technology to the agricultural sector will be his ministry's focus during the period, Han said in the Qiushi Journal article.

The agricultural ministry has ordered that grain acreage must be stabilised at more than 1.07 million hectares and total arable land area must stay above 120 million hectares as part of efforts to vouchsafe grain supply.