China will feed the world

In the next ten years, China's demand for foreign agricultural goods will rise.

This forecast gives the Organization for International Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its annual report on agriculture. As the Financial Times, China, it devotes an entire chapter, and it's the first time in the history of the report.

As the RBC-TV, by 2022 China will buy twice as much foreign coarse grains than it is now. Also double beef imports, while imports of soybeans will increase by 40%. As the report says, to feed the rapidly growing demand of China with limited resources - it is not an easy task. Own resources, as calculated by the OECD, the Middle Kingdom is not enough. China since 2008 has become a net importer of pork.

China's entry into the global market of agricultural products has caused an increase in mergers and acquisitions in the sector. Recently, the Chinese company Shuang announced the purchase of U.S. pork producer Smithfield for A $ 7 billion agribusiness company Archer Daniels Midland and Marubeni in the last year spent about $ 10 billion for investment in Australian and American companies that supply the grain in China.

In China, the middle class is growing rapidly - it leads to a change in consumer habits, the demand for meat. And it increases the burden on the agricultural sector, which is trying to feed one-fifth of the world's population in the shortage of farmland and water.

Growth of China's food imports will lead to higher prices, especially for meat, fish and biofuels. Increased demand will be combined with the slowdown in production. By 2022, China is projected OECD, will become the world's largest consumer of pork, ahead of the European Union.

Renowned investor Jim Rogers has long predicted global food shortage due to which the price for it, "go through the roof." At his lectures, he encourages students to study agriculture and buying tractors.

RBC

Our comment: as pointed out repeatedly agricultural experts to Russia this trend may result in a great benefit if the government encourages the development of pig production in the south of Siberia and the Far East. While these regions produce too little pork, how to play or whether a significant role as a supplier to the neighboring country. The problem of animal there requires a political solution and a large investment, but it is real.