China urgently needs grain imports
For years, China has tried to remain self-sufficient in grain supplies. Recently, this has become increasingly unsuccessful. In the current year, a series of bad luck and mishaps have added to this, affecting not only production volumes but also quality problems with bread wheat. Chinese wheat prices have exceeded the $42 per tonne mark. Compared to the previous year, the expected import volume has doubled from around 8 to over 17 million tons. Five years ago, grain imports amounted to just 2 million tons. Rice imports of 2.5 million tons will be added to this.
The rising demand for food in China is caused by the growing population, the rising income of the growing middle and upper classes and the increased switch to the consumption of processed products. China's land is already being used intensively. 800 square meters of agricultural land are available per inhabitant; in Germany, the area is more than twice as large.
For the current year, it is expected that imports of wheat, maize and rice will primarily increase, but "small grains" will also be used.
Although China is not yet one of the largest importing countries, it is moving up into the upper middle class. However, the prospects for the coming years are likely to be more significant. Earlier forecasts already estimated China's grain imports at 30 million tons in 2020. This forecast is becoming increasingly realistic
