Miller Magazine Issue: 152 August 2022

90 COUNTRY PROFILE MILLER / AUGUST 2022 China’s agricultural imports, exports, and produc- tion have expanded greatly since acceding to the WTO in 2001. China’s rapid economic growth and large population make it a major consumer of food products. For example, in 2020 China’s soybean im- ports accounted for 85 percent of its domestic con- sumption. Food security and the wellbeing of China's rural populations are of para- mount importance to the Chinese government. China’s domestic agri- cultural activities are vital to ensuring food security for its 1.4 billion people and – as the world’s larg- est wheat producer – the country plays a major role in shaping interna- tional markets. China, the world's top grains market, feeds nearly 20% of the world's population with less than 9% of the world's arable land. China has seen its grain pro- duction capacity steadily increase with the support of a series of policies and measures, including the red line of farmland protection, the establishment of well-facilitated farmland, the establishment of func- tional grain production zones and major agricultural product production reserves, and the construction of farmland water conservation projects. Howev- er, fast-paced socio-economic transformation has been accompanied by diets shifting towards higher shares of non-starchy foods, resulting in a growing demand for feed grain. China faces growing demands on its agricultural production that it seeks to address through policy, technology, and economic activities. In 2021, China imported a record amount of corn at 28.35 million metric tons (mmt), 152 percent more than in 2020 and more than 10 percent of China’s Ministry of Ag- riculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) estimate for the country’s total corn consumption. The China Acad- emy of Social Sciences’ 2020 Rural Development Institute report claimed “there is likely to be a grain shortfall of about 130 mmt, including about 25 mmt of staple food grain” by the end of 2025. China relies heavily on corn and soy imports from countries like the United States and Brazil, which supply more than 80 percent of global soybean ex- ports. About 60 percent of global soybean exports go to China. The deficits were compounded by lo- gistics challenges resulting from China’s response to COVID-19, including port closures. In 2019, 86.4 percent of China’s corn imports came from Ukraine, meaning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may prolong the challenges to China’s food security even as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic subside. Diminishing arable land, shifting demo- graphics, and natural disasters present food security challenges to China’s leaders. In response, China has introduced domestic policies to promote food security and less- en food waste, both of which have been a pri- ority of General Secretary of the Chinese Com- munist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping since he assumed power. Under his rule, the government has also established policies to expand domestic farmland and harness innovations in agricultural technolo-