The mainland imported nearly a trillion tons of grain in the first 11 months of this year.
In the first 11 months of this year, the mainland has imported 99.718 million tons of grain, nearly 100 million tons, an increase of 29.6 percent from the same period last year.
The Chinese Communist Party has been adopting a quota system for wheat, corn and rice imports. However, according to the mainland’s Caixin website on December 8, the Communist Party’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the “2020 Grain Import Tariff Quota Application and Allocation Rules,” which show that corn has a 7.2 million ton quota, and the tariff rate for corn imported within the quota is only 1%, while corn imported beyond the quota is subject to a high tariff, with an MFN rate of 65%.
As of October of this year, China’s corn imports exceeded the annual tariff quota for the first time. According to customs data, from January to October 2020, corn imports reached 7.28 million tons, up 97.3% year-on-year. In October alone, 1.14 million tons of corn were imported, more than 12 times the amount imported during the same period in 2019.
In addition, from January to November, China imported 92.803 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 17.5% year-on-year. This compares to China’s total soybean imports of only 8.551 million tons in 2019.
Also according to FX168 financial news agency, Indian grain officials said on Dec. 1 that China has imported 100,000 tons of rice from India due to tightening rice supplies from Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. This is the first time in nearly 30 years.
The Caixin report attributed the mainland’s large imports to the “inversion” of grain prices between the mainland and overseas, as well as the recent resurgence of the mainland’s farming industry.
According to the report, the price difference between domestic and overseas prices of wheat, rice, corn, and other foodstuffs is 333 yuan (RMB) per ton, 16 yuan per ton, and 609 yuan per ton, respectively. Corn, wheat, soybeans are both grain and common feed for poultry and livestock.
However, some industry insiders believe that the mainland has recently increased food imports and this year’s Yangtze River Basin flooding, grain crop failure related.
In an interview with the Epoch Times, a farmer said that the first half of the year saw the early rice crop fail because of the floods, and the second half of the year saw a large drop in autumn grain production because of excessive rain, with no hope of a good harvest.
Although the Chinese Communist Party has always denied that there is a shortage of grain on the mainland, mainland grain and oil companies have debunked the Communist Party’s lies.
Ltd. issued a notice on October 19: “Due to epidemics and natural disasters this year, it rained for two months in a row in several major grain-producing areas across the country near the harvest season, and all rice was more seriously affected, the overall rice production is about a sharp drop of 30 percent compared to previous years.” “The company has decided to raise the prices of all rice products from October 19, 2020, so please pay attention to the inquiry when you place your order.”
On October 20, Hubei Yangtze River Greenland Industrial Co. sent a letter to its customers, saying that it would increase the price of rice and other related by-products with immediate effect due to the reduction in grain production and the epidemic, and on October 21, Hubei Jinyinfeng Grain Storage Co.
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