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China AGRICULTURAL TRADE
Since 1949 agricultural exports for most years have exceeded
agricultural imports. China's officials have used this export
surplus as an important source for financing the importation of
high-priority industrial items. Agricultural exports have risen
through the years but have not grown as fast as industrial exports.
In 1970, for example, agricultural exports accounted for 45 percent
of total exports, but in 1985 China's US$6.5 billion in
agricultural exports was only 20 percent of the total exports.
In the 1970s agricultural imports accounted for about 30
percent of total imports. For example, of the US$7.1 billion worth
of products imported in 1977, US$2.1 billion (30 percent) were
agricultural products. In 1985 US$4.7 billion worth of agricultural
products were imported, which was only 5 percent of the US$42.8
billion of total imports
(see
fig. 10;
table 14, Appendix A). The
ratio of agricultural imports to other imports was expected to rise
in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Wheat has been imported nearly every year since the early
1950s. These imports averaged about 5 million tons in the 1960s and
1970s but rose to a peak of more than 13 million tons in 1982.
Wheat imports fell as wheat output expanded rapidly, so that by
1985 imports fell to just under 5.5 million tons. Argentina,
Australia, Canada, France, and the United States have been major
sources of China's wheat imports.
China is one of the world's largest rice exporters, annually
shipping out about 1 million tons. Rice exports go primarily to
Asian and East European countries and to Cuba.
China is both an importer and an exporter of coarse grains. Up
to 1984 sorghum, millet, and corn exports usually totaled only
several hundred thousand tons but reached a peak of over 5 million
tons in 1985
(see Crops
, this ch.). In the mid-1980s corn was
shipped primarily to Japan, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.
Barley is imported as a livestock feed and as a feedstock to brew
beer. Corn is imported for human consumption and for livestock
feed. Quantities imported varied considerably depending on internal
supply conditions and prices in international markets. Large
quantities of corn were imported during the Great Leap Forward
(when grain production fell dramatically), in the early 1970s, and
at the end of the 1970s, when corn imports hit a peak of 3.6
million tons. Major coarse grain suppliers include Argentina,
Australia, Canada, France, Thailand, and the United States.
Soybeans have been a major foreign exchange earner for most of
this century. Static production and rising domestic demand for
soybeans and soybean products meant a decline in exports until the
early 1980s. For example, in 1981 Argentina and the United States
shipped more than 500,000 tons of soybeans to China; these two
countries and Brazil also exported soybean oil to China. Domestic
production expanded in the early 1980s, however, and by 1985
soybean imports fell and exports exceeded 1 million tons. Also in
the early 1980s, China began to ship soybean meal to Asian markets.
Before 1983 China was one of the world's largest importers of
raw cotton. These imports averaged around 100,000 tons annually but
climbed to a peak of nearly 900,000 tons in 1980. A dramatic
increase in domestic cotton production filled domestic demand, and
exports exceeded imports in 1983. In 1985 China shipped nearly
500,000 tons of raw cotton to Asian and European markets.
Sugar imports to China come primarily from Australia, Cuba, the
Philippines, and Thailand. Quantities imported climbed steadily
from 100,000 tons in 1955 to 500,000 tons in the mid-1970s and
continued to rise dramatically to a peak of more than 2 million
tons in 1985.
In addition to the commodities just noted, China also exports
a host of other products from its vast agricultural resources.
Large quantities of live animals, meat, fish, vegetables, and
fruits are shipped to Asian markets. Tea, spices, and essential
oils are shipped to major international markets. China also exports
animal products, such as hog bristles, fur, and other animal
products.
Agricultural trade remains an important component of China's
general agricultural modernization effort. China is likely to
continue to import grain and other agricultural products for the
foreseeable future. These imports would be used to maintain or
improve living standards, especially in urban areas. In rural
areas, imports help reduce the pressure for more procurement,
freeing resources for increased consumption or investment in local
agricultural programs.
In the long run, China may reduce the expenditure of foreign
exchange needed to finance agricultural imports. These expenditures
reduce the amount of other imports that can be used for
modernization and investment in the nonagricultural sectors of the
economy. Success in reducing agricultural imports will eventually
depend on the development of domestic sources of supply, for which
China hopes to rely in part on new production bases for marketable
crops. Pressure for increased consumption is likely to continue.
The increase in population and the need for more agricultural goods
(including grain, industrial crops, and grain-consuming livestock)
to support higher real incomes both in urban areas and in the new
agricultural base areas will continue to be factors creating this
pressure.
* * *
Useful general works on China's agricultural sector include
Dwight H. Perkins' Agricultural Development in China
1368-1968; Randolph Barker, Radha Sinha, and Beth Rose's The
Chinese Agricultural Economy; and Nicholas R. Lardy's
Agriculture in China's Modern Economic Development. Since
1981 China's State Statistical Bureau has published data on the
agricultural sector in annual statistical yearbooks. More detailed
statistics, summary information, and policy statements are
published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and
Fishery in its Nongye Nianjian (Agricultural Yearbook). The
China Daily, printed in English and published in China,
contains important data and policy statements. Thousands of
Chinese-language books on agricultural topics, and newspapers such
as Zhongguo Nongbao (China Agriculture), are available by
purchase or subscription. The China Quarterly, published in
London, frequently contains articles on Chinese agriculture by
foreign observers. The National Academy of Sciences Committee on
Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China has
published several interesting trip reports by United States
agricultural delegations.
The United States government also publishes information and
analysis concerning China. The Joint Economic Committee of the
United States Congress periodically publishes a volume on China's
economy; the 1986 edition is entitled China's Economy Looks
Toward the Year 2000. Each year the United States Department of
Agriculture publishes China: Situation and Outlook Report,
which reviews China's agricultural production and trade for the
past year and provides an outlook for the coming year. The
department also publishes monthly forecasts of production and trade
and prepares specialized reports on various topics. (For further
information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1987
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