March 20, 2008

China needs additional 33 million hectares for sufficient soy planting

China would need an additional 33.33 million hectares of arable land to meet the robust demand for soy, Ren Meijiang, a senior agriculture industry analyst with Orientation Securities, said Wednesday in Shanghai.

Ren said that based on average domestic yields for soy, soy oil and cotton, China's imports of these commodities is equal to the utilization of 33.33 million hectares of arable land each year.

China is utilizing only 7 percent of the world's land resources to feed 20 percent of the world's population.

The country's per capita arable land resources are only around 0.093 hectares, well below Australia's 2.4 hectares, Canada's 1.4 hectares and Russia's 0.93 hectares.

Due to limited land resources, China needs to prioritize the production of grain staples including wheat to assure the domestic food supply, Ren explained.

China's most imported grain and soft commodities in 2007 according to General Administration of Customs:

                                Grain              Imports in 2007 (MT)                Percentage Change
 
                                 Soy                         30.80                                        9.00 %
 
                                Soy oil                        2.80                                      83.00 %
 
                               Palm oil                       4.40                                        5.00 %
 
                            Rapeseed oil                   0.375                                   650.00 %