Overview of China's Agricultural Product Imports and Exports in 2014
Net grain imports up 38% year-on-year, sorghum and barley imports surged. On the basis of net imports remaining at 13 million tons for two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013, net grain imports reached 18.747 million tons in 2014, up 40% year-on-year. According to China's traditional definition and scope of grain, total grain imports in 2014 reached 100 million tons, of which soybean imports were 71.40 million tons, grain imports were 19.52 million tons, and tuber crops (mainly dried cassava) imports were 8.67 million tons. If 5.41 million tons of corn distillers' grains are included in the grain category as corn products, grain imports amounted to 106 million tons.
Wheat imports were mainly for variety adjustment. Because the quality of domestically produced wheat was high in 2014, import demand declined, with imports of 3.004 million tons, down 45.7% year-on-year. The price gap between domestic and imported corn widened, at one point exceeding the 65% out-of-quota tariff margin, but due to the implementation of GMO management and regulatory measures such as the ratio-based sale of imports and inventories, corn imports were 2.599 million tons, down 20.4% year-on-year. Rice imports continued to grow, with imports of 2.579 million tons, up 13.6% year-on-year. At the same time, imports of sorghum and barley, which are corn substitutes, grew rapidly, with combined imports of 11.19 million tons, an increase of 7.78 million tons year-on-year, or 2.3 times. While grain imports increased, the problem of insufficient grain storage capacity in China became prominent.
Soybean imports rose by another 10%, and rapeseed imports continued to increase sharply. On the basis of 63.375 million tons imported the previous year, up 8.5% year-on-year, soybean imports in 2014 were 71.399 million tons, up 12.7% year-on-year. Rapeseed imports were 5.081 million tons, up 38.7% year-on-year.
Growth in feed demand was the main factor driving the increase in soybean and rapeseed imports. After crushing, 80% of soybeans becomes soybean meal used for feed, and rapeseed meal is also an important feed ingredient. In 2014, imports of edible vegetable oil were 7.873 million tons, down 14.6% year-on-year. Converting the increased imports of oilseeds into oil, overall vegetable oil imports remained stable in 2014.
Cotton imports declined but remained high. Since 2010, sugar had been imported in large quantities for consecutive years, inventories piled up, domestic prices fell, and the domestic-import price gap therefore narrowed, weakening the incentive to import, but imports still remained high. In 2014, sugar imports were 3.486 million tons, down 23.3% year-on-year. A target price policy for cotton was implemented in 2014, domestic market prices fell, and combined with pressure from high inventories, cotton imports declined, down 40.7% year-on-year, but still remained high at 2.669 million tons. At the same time, cotton yarn imports remained at a high level, with imports of 2.010 million tons, down 4.2% year-on-year.
Livestock product imports up 10%, milk powder imports increased sharply. Because domestic supply increased somewhat, pork imports in 2014 were 564,000 tons, down 3.3% year-on-year; pig offal imports were 820,000 tons, flat year-on-year. Beef and mutton imports grew strongly in the first half of the year, then declined in the second half due to changes in the domestic market, and overall were basically flat with the previous year. Beef imports were 298,000 tons, up 1.3% year-on-year; mutton imports were 283,000 tons, up 9.3% year-on-year. Milk powder imports continued to increase sharply, with 1.054 million tons imported in 2014, equivalent to 8.432 million tons of fresh milk, up 22.0% year-on-year; fresh milk imports were 320,000 tons, up 73.5% year-on-year. Dairy product imports caused a relatively large impact on domestic industry.
Exports of competitive agricultural products generally maintained relatively rapid growth, but the fruit export surplus fell by 50%. In 2014, aquatic product exports were 21.70 billion USD, up 7.1% year-on-year; imports were 9.19 billion USD, up 6.3% year-on-year; the surplus was 12.51 billion USD, up 7.6% year-on-year. Vegetable exports were 12.50 billion USD, up 7.9% year-on-year, with growth down 8.3 percentage points year-on-year; imports were 510 million USD, up 21.7% year-on-year; the trade surplus was 11.99 billion USD, up 7.3% year-on-year. Fruit exports were 6.18 billion USD, down 2.3% year-on-year; the trade surplus was 1.06 billion USD, down 51.0% year-on-year.