China raises global food prices

FOR THE first time in its history, China is no longer self-sufficient in food, and this helps drive global food prices up, The Guardian reports.

As the Chinese economy develops and land, water and people are sucked away from the food-producing countryside and into the cities, the remaining farmers are no longer able to feed the country‘s population.

The country has therefore increasingly had to look abroad for its food, and this has driven up international prices of wheat, rice and soya.

China‘s leaders have raised the alarm about their country‘s ability to feed itself, The Guardian reports.

More than 10 million peasants are moving into cities every year, and the amount of arable land in China has shrunk by 6.7m hectares (16.75m acres) since 1996.

Since 1998‘s record harvest of 512m tonnes, grain production has fallen every year to just over 400m tonnes.

At the same time, appetites are growing. The increasingly affluent urban population is more likely to eat meat – which is fattened on grain.

In the first six months of the 2004, the value of Chinese food imports surged 62% to $14.4bn (£8bn).

The World Bank forecasts a rise in net grain imports from 14m tonnes next year to 32m tonnes in 2020.

This has lead to a surge in global food prices, according to The Guardian, with grain futures being up 30% this year thanks largely to the China factor.