March 5, 2009
Political risks discourage China from expanding overseas farming
China is not pushing to expand overseas farming and Chinese companies are less active in their investment abroad due to concerns of potential political risks, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday (Mar 4).
In order to meet a persistent soy supply insufficiency, China, the world's largest soy importer, will continue to import from major growing countries such as the US, the largest exporter, rather than buying up farmland outside China, said Qian Keming, market economics director at the ministry.
Qian said some countries have misunderstandings about Chinese companies' with regards to overseas farming and the Chinese government is not pushing for this project. However, the ministry is willing to assist if there are such requests by other countries.
He added that Chinese companies growing grains overseas were doing so only for profits and they do not have official encouragement. Moreover, they are not allowed to ship the grains to China due to food security concerns.
Some of these companies also engaged in farming overseas had encountered opposition from local politicians and society which inevitably forced them to cut down their involvement now due to the huge political risks.
