Who promoted the increase of China's corn import?

In July this year, China's corn imports reached 86000 tons, up 217 percent from the previous month and 18 percent from the same period last year. In recent years, corn imports have been rising, showing explosive growth since 2010, jumping from 83000 tons in 2009 to 1.572 million tons, an increase of nearly 18 times compared with the same period last year. It hit a new high in 2012, reaching 5.2064 million tons.

Figure, China's corn import data from 2003 to 2013

Source: China Customs

What are the factors driving corn imports to increase year by year?

First of all, the main reason is the increasing domestic consumption of corn. After more than ten years of development, the domestic corn consumption reached 190 million tons in 2013, and the consumption increased by 53%. In 2013, China's corn output was 210 million tons. Excluding consumption, the corn inventory is only 20 million tons. Corn, as the third largest food crop in China, plays an important role in grain production and is related to the food security of our country, so we need to rely on imports to keep rich stocks and meet domestic consumption.

Figure, comparative map of corn consumption and yield in China

Source: China Customs

Secondly, the growth of corn production in China has slowed down, and the gap of domestic consumption has increased. After decades of rapid development, the growth of corn production has slowed down in the past two years; in addition, with the development of China's urbanization process, a large number of arable land has been embezzled by buildings and roads, resulting in the reduction of corn ploughing area. Third, Henan, Liaoning and other major producing areas have experienced severe drought this year, and corn production in Northeast China may be slightly reduced.

Thirdly, imported corn is of high quality and cheap. Due to the government's purchase and storage drive up the price of corn, the purchase price of corn this year is 2300 yuan to 2,400 yuan per ton, and the average annual import price of corn in 2012 and 2013 is 323 yuan per ton, equivalent to 1989 yuan per ton, which is nearly 400 yuan cheaper than domestic corn.

Due to the problem of genetically modified corn, China has refused to import genetically modified corn from the United States for several times, and the number of imported corn has slowed down in the past two years.

In the future, if the government loosens the restrictions on genetically modified corn, China's corn imports will further increase.