Provinces told to plant more soybean as US trade brawl heats up

China has instructed two Northeastern provinces to expand their soybean cultivation area, which analysts said will help the country in its trade spat with the US.

Provinces including Heilongjiang and Jilin have recently encouraged farmers to expand soybean plantation in 2018, without specifying the acreage they will expand, according to thepaper.cn.

The notice released by the Changchun agriculture committee on April 28 said that increasing soybean planting areas “is the primary political mission of agricultural production.”

The bid to increase soybean yield in northeastern China is definitely not targeted at the current trade row with the US but will certainly boost our confidence in dealing with the US in trading, Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute under the Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times on Thursday.

China cannot meet soybean demand only through the strategy of market diversification, such as purchasing soybean from Russia, Brazil and Ukraine, but should also grow its own, Bai said.

China imported 95.54 million tons of soybean in 2017, an increase of 13.9 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.

China relies on foreign imports to meet over 85 percent of its demand for soybean, according to National Bureau of Statistics in 2018. Brazil, the US and Argentina were the three main exporters of soybean to China in 2017, with volumes reaching 50.93 million tons, 32.85 million tons and 6.58 million tons respectively.

Soybeans can be used to produce edible oil and grease and as an ingredient of animal feed. Soybean prices also affect inflation.

Heilongjiang Province is also mulling expanding its soybean cultivation to 11.5 million mu (7,666 square kilometers) of rotation plough land and providing subsidies to the farmers involved.