A meeting last week of the State Council, which comprises China’s most senior lawmakers, said it was “inevitable” that regional leaders would be at the forefront of the food security system as China witnesses a “tight balance of food demand and supply for a long period of time," according to a statement published by the council.
The governors will be responsible for maintaining a stable expanse of farmland, ensuring its continued fertility and the quality of grain and improving pollution controls, the State Council said.
Provincial chiefs will also be charged with making sure grain reserve data is accurate and looking after the interests of farmers.
Their performance will be assessed by officials from 10 government agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Administration of Grain.
They will be held accountable if they "fail to perform their duties and make major errors with serious effects," according to the statement.
China is reviewing its approach to food security—already a pressing issue for a country with a population approaching 1.4bn, though the recent announcement that it would end its one-child policy is expected to make it more urgent.
Even before the policy was relaxed, the Ministry of Agriculture forecast that China would consume 50bn kg more food in 2020 than it did in 2010.
With 20% of the world’s population and just 9% of its farmland, the country has recognised the need to bolster its approach to providing sufficient food for a growing population at a time when it is approaching the maximum production of food that it can obtain from its land.
In August, the State Council released a guideline to make agriculture more intensive and environmentally friendly by lowering China’s dependency on resources and mass labour and improving the use of advanced technology and skills of farmers.
"Agriculture faces increasing challenges and risks and it is an urgent need to transform the production model," said Ye Xingqing, head of the agricultural economy department under the State Council, at the time.
China's summer grain output reached a record high of 141m tonnes in 2015 after 11 consecutive years of increases, according to the latest official data.
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ADM opens two plants in China’s east
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the America-based agricultural processor, opened two plants in China last week as the country’s demand for food ingredients and animal nutrition continues to increase.
The ribbon-cutting of a plant in Tianjin to produce Fibersol soluble dietary fibre was followed later in the week by a ceremony in Nanjing to mark to opening of a feed-premix plant in the city.
The Tianjin plant has been designed for annual production of 15,000 tonnes of Fibersol, which is formulated to increase a food product’s fibre content. The global market for soluble dietary fibre growing at an annual rate of 13%, said chief executive Juan Luciano.
“As more and more Chinese citizens enter the middle-class, we expect that demand for Fibersol and other value-added food ingredients made by ADM will remain robust well into the future,” Luciano said.
The Nanjing facility will manufacture nutritional premixes containing various vitamins and minerals and amino acids that can be added to animal rations to promote health and growth.
ADM will produce an estimated 30,000 tonnes per year at the Nanjing facility, which joins other premix manufacturing facilities in Tianjin and in Dalian. A fourth is currently under construction in Zhangzhou.
With a rising population and growing middle-class, China’s consumption of pork, poultry and beef will grow by around 30% by 2024, according to a US Department of Agriculture estimate.
“We therefore are confident that demand for the livestock feeds and feed ingredients we produce will continue to increase over the course of the next decade,” Luciano said.
ADM, which began operations in China two decades ago through its acquisition of its Dalian feed premix plant, is currently in a process to grow its business in the country and drive production efficiencies.
Xi pub visit prompts newfound interest in British IPA
Images of China’s president enjoying a pint of British beer in an Oxfordshire pub alongside Prime Minister David Cameron have sparked a Far East “frenzy” for real ale.
In particular, Chinese consumers are asking for Greene King IPA, which President Xi Jinping was snapped drinking on his on a recent state visit, in massive numbers.
“It has just gone berserk. It’s unbelievable,” said Peter Bloxham, a Beijing-based British businessman who imports Greene King beers, told The Guardian.
“Within two days of the great bar scene… people from all over China were ringing: agents, restaurants, bars, hotels. They wanted this beer.”
In The TImes, Shanghai pub owner Jackie Zhou said: “Customers usually don’t explain why they want the beer, they just say “give me what Xi Dada [President Xi] drank.”
Zhou said sales had quadrupled since the visit as drinkers seek to emulate the leaders at their pub lunch.
“This beer’s balance is good,” said Zhou. “Chinese people can accept it. Drinking it in the afternoon feels very comfortable. Chinese people like new things.”
Newspapers from as far away as Xinjiang, a desert region more than 3,200km west of Beijing, have reported a spike in the beer’s consumption, The Guardian reported.
In spite of consumers’ newfound taste for British IPA, China remains the world’s leading producer of beer. And as the biggest consumer, some analysts expect annual sales to reach 61bn litres next year.
Snow, a lager which is manufactured in China, has been the world’s biggest selling brand in terms of volume since it overtook Bud Light in 2008, with around 5.5% of the global market—even though it is only sold on the domestic market.
Fellow local beer Tsingtao, which is exported, is second on the list of the world’s biggest beer brands with a 2.8% global share.
During Xi’s state visit, Britain signed an agreement worth US$152m for the export of around 150,000 tonnes of British barley a year to China. The grain will largely be sold to craft breweries.
"British beer hasn't been the front-runner so far, but is growing in profile. So, I think there is a massive opportunity for us to take more market share,” Elizabeth Truss, Britain’s food secretary said after the deal.
ChemChina places bid for Syngenta
China National Chemical Corporation, the state-owned conglomerate, is the latest company to show interest in buying Syngenta after the world’s biggest agrochemicals company managed to beat off a recent takeover by Monsanto.
The Chinese company, also known as ChemChina, has matched the lower of Monsanto’s two unsuccessful bids to offer US$41.5bn for Syngenta, which is based in Switzerland.
There was sizeable approval among Syngenta shareholders for the failed Monsanto offer, which resulted in the departure of the Swiss company’s chief executive last month.
If successful, ChemChina will have completed the biggest ever foreign purchase by a Chinese firm as the agribusiness industry goes through a period of consolidation due to low commodity prices.