China has set higher grain and oilseed production targets and increased its 2025 budget for storing agricultural commodities in a bid to secure its long-term food security amid its trade war with the USA, World Grain reported from a Reuters article citing government data.
In a 5 March announcement, China set a production target of around 700M tonnes for 2025, compared to its 2024 target of 650M tonnes after a record harvest of 706.5M tonnes last year, the 6 March report said.
China also raised its 2025 budget for stockpiling grain, edible oils and other materials by 6.1% compared to the previous year to CNY131.66bn (US$18.12bn).
The world’s leading importer of agricultural goods for its 1.4bn people, China imported more than 157M tonnes of grains and soyabeans in 2024 but was aiming to cut its dependence on supplies that mainly come from Brazil and the USA, the report said.
On 4 March, the USA imposed a 20% tariff on all Chinese imports. This was on top of existing tariffs already in effect as a result of the ongoing trade tensions between the two countries which began in 2018 under Donald Trump’s first term as US president.
In response, China imposed additional tariffs on US soyabeans and sorghum and a 15% tariff on US wheat and corn.
According to customs data, the total value of China’s agriculture imports in 2024 dropped by 8% to US$215bn due to increased domestic agricultural output.
China was also planning to increase the construction and improve the connectivity of storage facilities for grain, cotton, sugar, meat and fertiliser, the World Grain report said.
China, which imports about 80% of the soyabeans it consumes, said it would expand the coverage of full-cost and production income insurance for soyabeans, a move intended to encourage farmers to plant the oilseed.
In addition, China said it would continue efforts to lower the use of soyabean meal in livestock feed.
For several years the use of low-protein animal feed or alternative meals such as rapeseed or cotton has been explored to reduce China’s demand for imported soyabeans, according to the report.
