February 20, 2009
China's Zhejiang to plant soy in Brazil
A rural cooperative society was formed by 732 households of rural residents in Zhejiang Province in South China Thursday (Feb 19) to plant soy in Brazil.
The society raised RMB5.544 million (US$810,920) and it will spend the money buying lands in Brazil. Brazil now has 152.5 million hectares of arable land but only 62 million hectares are being used.
It costs around RMB1,000 to purchase the permanent ownership of one mu of land there, said Zhu Zhangjin, a sponsor of the cooperative society.
More importantly, it costs significantly lesser to plant soy in Brazil than in northeast China, the major soy producing area in China. Brazil's soy yield per unit is 30 percent higher than in northeast China. Moreover, the period suitable for soy planting is longer in Brazil.
Furthermore, it now costs US$30 per tonne to deliver soy from Brazil to China, with the price similar to the delivering of soy from northeast China to Zhejiang Province.
