Six Major Agricultural Products Need to Be Imported, China's Food Security Cannot Be Ignored
“Last year China imported 66.38 million tons of soybeans, and 65% of the soybeans on the international market were bought by China.” Chen Xiwen, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said on the 22nd that China currently needs to import six major agricultural products, and food security cannot be ignored.
The 5th China Economic Security Forum, jointly hosted by the Social Sciences Development Research Center for Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education and the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of Renmin University of China, was held in Beijing on the 22nd. Chen Xiwen introduced at the forum that China currently imports more than 84 million tons of grain each year. In addition to more than 60 million tons of soybeans, grain imports have also reached nearly 15 million tons. In addition, China also imports 4.5 million tons of cotton, 4.54 million tons of sugar, and 8.09 million tons of vegetable oil each year.
Chen Xiwen said that compared with the shortfall in quantity, the issue of farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain deserves more attention. “China is a WTO member, and importing some grain is not a big deal, but the prices of the grain we import are much lower than domestic market prices, which poses a huge challenge to increasing farmers' incomes and therefore also challenges agricultural security.” Taking soybeans as an example, the arrival price of imported soybeans is 4,000 yuan per ton, while the domestic price is 4,800 yuan per ton. China's grain planting costs are high and prices are high, and it is obviously uncompetitive.
On the other hand, agricultural production costs are now rising. At present, farmers' net income per mu of land is only 682 yuan, down 2.4% from the previous year. Farmers' income from planting accounts for only 24.6%. Farmers' net income is decreasing, so their enthusiasm for production naturally cannot rise.
“Without farmers' enthusiasm, protecting agriculture is empty talk. What is needed now is to study at a fundamental level how to mobilize farmers' enthusiasm and ensure that farmers increase production and income.” Chen Xiwen said that China is changing the price formation mechanism through reform. For example, this year it is piloting target prices for cotton in Xinjiang and soybeans in the three northeastern provinces. For example, for cotton with a target price of 19,800 yuan per ton, the purchase price at market price is only more than 14,000 yuan, and the difference of 5,000 yuan per ton is subsidized by the government.
Chen Xiwen stated that China must implement a national food security strategy that is based mainly on itself, grounded in domestic production, ensures production capacity, imports appropriately, and is supported by science and technology, so as to achieve basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute security of staple food, transform the agricultural development model, promote increases in farmers' incomes, and ensure food security.