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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (1893)	12/11/2003 1:46:46 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China Farmers Turn to Soy as Grains Disappoint Thu December 11, 2003 08:15 AM ET (Page 1 of 3) By Nao Nakanishi JILIN, China (Reuters) - With about half an acre of land in China's top corn-producing province, Zhang Shufen and her husband can count themselves lucky. For the vast army of rural workers in the world's most populous country, life is tough and the future uncertain. But Zhang and her husband in northeastern Jilin have parents to help them pay for their daughter to study business management in Beijing. They live like royalty compared with peers in less fertile areas. They no longer go hungry, they have enough clothes, and they would be the envy of most small farmers outside Jilin and neighboring Heilongjiang, a corner of China known as the Green Granary. Most corn growers struggle to squeeze out an existence in China, the world's number two exporter of the grain, as Beijing has been phasing out grain price support systems under obligations to the World Trade Organization. Many are switching to growing soy, the so-called "miracle crop" which promises better revenues. However, Beijing is worried about its food security and is now stressing the importance of increasing both agricultural production and farmers' incomes. China has been reducing the size of a grains stockpile amassed in the late 1990s, as harvests have been disappointing in recent years. Since 2000, China's annual grain consumption of about 480 million tons has outpaced production of around 455 million tons, state media say. However, the size of state stocks is a closely guarded secret. GOVERNMENT BACKS GRAIN Beijing has stressed the need to raise grain output after domestic grain prices jumped in October for the first time in six years. The government, aware of a growing income gap between the urban and rural populations, also wants to boost farm revenues. Continued ... 1\| 2\| 3 Next reuters.com