China’s soybean production to increase 40 per cent by 2025 amid food-security alarms
- However, new soybean output target would still pale in comparison with total imports, while demand for the essential oilseed continues to increase
- China imported more than 100 million tonnes of soybeans in 2020, accounting for about 60 per cent of the global soybean trade volume
China has ambitious plans to boost domestic soybean output by 40 per cent over the next four years, as an over-reliance on imports of the commodity continues to raise alarms over the nation’s food security.
The country will bolster its oilseed self-sufficiency by increasing soybean production to 23 million tonnes by 2025, from 16.4 million tonnes in 2021, according to the 14th five-year plan on crop farming that was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) on Thursday.
But even with the sharp increase in domestic production, the 23-million-tonne target is still dwarfed by the volume of soybeans that must be imported, meaning China is far from filling the domestic supply gap.
China imported more than 100 million tonnes of soybeans in 2020, accounting for about 85 per cent of its domestic consumption that year and about 60 per cent of the global soybean trade volume, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, the country is expected to import 102 million tonnes of soybeans from October 2021 to September – a period when domestic consumption is expected to reach 118.08 million tonnes, according to a statement by MARA’s Chinese Agriculture Outlook Committee on Wednesday.