SCIO briefing on food security in China
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 16, 2019
Market News International:
Mr. Zhang just mentioned that China needs to import soybeans. The U.S. has always been a chief source of supply for soybeans and other agricultural products to China. Since last year, China has used soybeans as a bargain chip during the China-U.S. trade talks. So will that impact the supply of feed for livestock? It is expected that China's pork production will greatly increase next year. If the trade friction continues to escalate, do we have the confidence to guarantee the supply of soybeans and other types of feed for livestock? Thanks.
Zhang Wufeng:
Thanks for your questions. Mr. Su will answer that.
Su Wei:
Thanks for your questions and your attention to China's grain supply. As Mr. Zhang mentioned, China is confident that our reserves can guarantee the grain supply. There are several reasons. First, China has strong grain production capacity, and its total grain production is expected to surpass 650 million metric tons this year. Second, China has sufficient grain reserves to meet any potential emergencies. As Mr. Zhang mentioned, China needs to import some agricultural products, mostly for the adjustment of different varieties. In addition, China is also considering plans to rejuvenate soybean farming. In general, we are confident that we can guarantee the grain supply. Thanks.
The Economic Daily:
Different from the Write Paper on Food Security issued in 1996, the latest edition mentioned that "China will advance from a large grain producer to a food industry power". Would you please tell us by what this means, namely that China can accelerate quality production while developing the grain industry economy? Thank you.
Zhang Wufeng:
Thank you for your question. I would like to take this opportunity to answer it. As is generally known, a strong industrial capacity safeguards food security. Nowadays, since food productivity has achieved stable growth, Chinese consumers are shifting their attention from food quantity to quality, and this has resulted in an urgent demand for developing the grain industry economy. During the past few years, authorities at all levels, following the decisions made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, have explored many practices and gained precious experiences. In the past two years in peculiar, the grain industry economy in China has been growing rapidly. I'll show you five points as follows to demonstrate some good examples in different areas.
We focus on "one target" –to facilitate the high-quality development of its grain industries and advance to a food industry power by upholding the principle of "grain planting to the forefront and produce to follow" and "agriculture to the forefront and industry to follow." We are accelerating progress in building a modern food industry system, with a nationwide registration system covering 23,000 enterprises. In 2018, the output value of China's agricultural sector hit 3 trillion yuan, with 11 provinces each achieving 100 billion yuan. Shandong took a lead by generating an output value of 400 billion yuan. It was followed by Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Hubei and Henan, each exceeding 200 billion yuan. Many enterprises across the country with widely-known brand images and high credibility have formed the backbone industry of the agricultural sector and spearheaded quality production.
We support "two major strategies" – namely, national food security and rural vitalization. We'll promote refined food processing industry, encourage the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors and achieve equilibrium between supply and demand of high-quality food products.
We stick to the synchronized development among "three chains": first, an intact industrial chain of food manufacturing in broader extent; second, an increase of high added value in the food price chains; and third, the chain of grain and edible oil supply with higher efficiency.
Zhang Wufeng:
We have built four platforms. We will make greater efforts in launching programs for quality food. In doing so, we will buttress a number of model counties and county-level cities, build several model zones and help develop a certain amount of small-and-medium enterprises with core competences, strong driving force, outstanding professionalism and targeted market products. The four platforms, therefore, stand for quality food projects, model counties and county-level cities, model zones and competitive enterprises. Since 2017, the Ministry of Finance and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration has joined hands to launch a quality food project financed with 20 billion yuan from the central government and more than 45 billion yuan from local governments and various social organizations. The investments are spent on building an after-service system of food production, improving services from the institutes focusing on evaluation of food quality, and implementing the Healthy Grain and Edible Oil Action Plan.
We are adhering to concerted efforts with the hope that our food can excel in five aspects: namely production, purchase, inventory, processing and sales, by improving the quality and efficiency of food productivities. We are pursuing efforts to build up the food industry and establish a country with a competitive agricultural sector. While changing from quantity-to-quality driven production, agriculture in China should undertake structural adjustment and conduct appropriate business operations. We will boost the production of high-quality grain, purchase it at higher prices, and prioritize its storage, processing and sales. We will improve the structure and distribution of grain processing capacity, encourage the recyclable food economy, strengthen cooperation between food production and sales and improve the "last mile" logistic service to deliver the food and oil products to consumers. By and large, the concerted efforts among production, purchase, inventory, processing and sales are critical to lead our agriculture to excel in the abovementioned aspects with good effects.
We all know that the food industry link production and consumption. It is fundamental and extensively used. Therefore, the country will follow the guiding principles of government, indicators of the market, the appropriate use of natural resources, a green recycling approach, solution-oriented management and a bottom line alarm approach to accelerate innovation with structural upgrading and adjustment and improvements in quality and efficiency. We will continue to increase our comprehensive capabilities of food production and enhance market competitiveness and social efficiency to safeguard the industrial basis of national food security in all aspects. Thank you.
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