00:00They're pressed, then crushed, before being hydraulically shaped and squeezed.
00:12This is the process of extracting oil from soybeans used in China for cooking.
00:17It's the original method, traditional technique, the old-fashioned way of pressing.
00:2347-year-old Zhang Changming from northern Heilongjiang province has run a business
00:28together with his wife, processing soybeans for nearly 10 years.
00:32This is peak season for buying soybean oil following the summer harvest.
00:37What's left after the oil is extracted is soybean cake.
00:41The soybean cake is then cooked in a wok.
00:45We then fill it into bags and deliver it to farmers to feed their pigs and cattle.
00:50In China, a shift towards more protein-rich diets in the last three decades has sent demand
00:55for soybean soaring.
00:58It's essential feed for livestock.
01:00Only China produces just a fraction of what it needs.
01:04The country is expected to harvest around 20 million tons domestically this year and will
01:09need to import another 100 million more to meet demand.
01:14Here in Heilongjiang province, acre after acre, the fields are covered in corn.
01:21Farmers like Wang Xiu-Huan rely on it to make ends meet.
01:25The Chinese government subsidizes agricultural produce and pays around $17 per acre of corn
01:31that's grown.
01:32Far less than the nearly $300 it pays for people to cultivate soybeans.
01:37And yet people like Wang are reluctant to switch.
01:42Corn sells well.
01:44Corn sells well.
01:45In a good year, it can produce a good yield.
01:48Soybeans, by contrast, have a low yield so we don't grow soybeans.
01:54Farmers say corn is less hassle to grow.
01:57If soybean crops aren't managed carefully, they become wood ridden.
02:02Prior to the trade war, the bulk of soybean imports came from the US.
02:07But as tensions have ratcheted, Beijing has halted purchases of the crop from the number
02:11one producing market completely, instead turning to Brazil to fill the gap, despite the risk
02:17of less reliable shipments and lower quality beans.
02:21Politically, it's a very convenient way to put direct pressure on Trump's base, the American
02:25farmer.
02:27And it's clearly something that appears to have been effective in so much as Trump is very
02:32concerned with the imports of soybeans.
02:34He's mentioned that a number of times as a priority for his meeting with Xi Jinping.
02:38The China-US deal is likely to provide a lifeline to US farmers and help China secure a more stable
02:45supply of this vital crop.
02:48Despite Beijing's push for self-sufficiency, soybeans look set to remain the understated staple
02:54linking two economic giants.
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