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  • China Environment Forum

    Infographic: The Rise of U.S.-China Agricultural Trade

    September 23, 2014 By Siqi Han & Susan Chan Shifflett
    Food-Trade

    China faces a dilemma. It is home to 20 percent of the world’s population but only seven percent of the world’s water resources and nine percent of the world’s arable land. At the same time, a rising middle class is demanding more food. Over the last 30 years, China’s meat demand has quadrupled.

    In 2004, China became a net food importer for the first time

    These dynamics are pushing China to look overseas to feed growing appetites. In 2004, it shifted from being a net food exporter to importer for the first time.

    The United States has a trade surplus with China when it comes to agricultural products and that surplus has grown considerably over the last decade. In 2013, the United States exported $28.8 billion worth of agricultural products to China, while importing $10.5 billion. China is now the top destination for U.S. agricultural exports overall. Almost half of these exports are soybeans, commonly used to produce animal feed.

    In the other direction, U.S. food imports from China have also ramped up over the last decade. Nearly 8 out of 10 tilapia sold in the United States come from China, 70 percent of the apple juice, and half the cod.

    China’s growing demand for food is opening up new opportunities for U.S. agriculture and strengthening already strong trade ties.

    Join the China Environment Forum on September 30 for a discussion with Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, on how rapid shifts in food production and consumption in China are threatening the country’s food security and changing global food markets. 

    Sources: Financial Times, Ministry of Agriculture (China), PBS, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Xinhua.

    Image Credit: Siqi Han/China Environment Forum.

    Topics: agriculture, Asia, China, China Environment Forum, consumption, development, economics, environment, featured, food security, land, natural resources, U.S., water
    • Larry Swatuk

      In the context of a water scarce environment, the yellow flag being waved here is the phrase ‘meat demand in China has quadrupled over the last 30 years’. If China succeeds in its drive toward a middle-class creating, deepened industrial economy, this ‘quadrupling’ will soon look like a small drop in a very big bucket. Where will all the grain come from to feed all of that meat-to-be?

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