China’s soybean import dependence grows amid crop shift

DW (English)

An expected trade deal between China and the US is offering relief to American farmers hit hard by Beijing’s block on soybean imports and China’s challenge to grow enough of its own.

Transcript

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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