China corn video stokes food security fears amid coronavirus pandemic, flooding and drought

Beijing criticises local move to ban mobile devices from granaries, says investigation shows no problem with corn quality

Suspicions about quantity and quality of corn stockpiles arose due to a recent jump in market price and record purchases from United States

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China has designated corn as one of its strategic grains – one that is a crucial ingredient in animal feel, alcohol and ethanol fuel. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:23pm, 3 Aug 2020Updated: 8:25am, 4 Aug 2020

China’s state agency in charge of its strategic grain stockpiles has sparked concern over the quality of national grain reserves, particularly corn, after a local unit moved to ban all photo-taking devices from its granaries.

The order, by the storehouse unit of the China Grain Reserves Cooperative (Sinograin) in the northern province of Heilongjiang province last week, came as the impact of the coronavirus, heavy summer flooding and record purchases from the United States have increased worries about food security in the world’s most populous country.

The device ban followed the online posting of a video showing a pile of corn from a Sinograin warehouse in Zhaodong, a county-level city outside Zhaozhou, in mid-July.

Much of the grain appeared to be mouldy and mixed with bits of dirt and other foreign matter. The clip circulated on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.

A video posted to Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform, appears to show dirty and mouldy corn at a grain-storage facility in Heilongjiang province. Image: Screengrab

The clip and the government agency’s reaction come amid growing nationwide anxiety about a potential shortage of crops. In recent weeks, Beijing has strengthened its rhetoric on protecting national food security, following disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, floods in the south, and a drought in the northern region, in addition to the uncertainties caused by deteriorating US-China relations.

There is currently no evidence suggesting that the country is facing an insufficient food supply.

But the video showing the stockpiled corn triggered public questions about whether the official grain reserves were safe and sufficient enough to meet domestic demand.

The ban on carrying mobile phones into granaries further fuelled online speculation that the state-owned grain reserve agency could be hiding a deterioration in the quality of stockpiles and was moving to prevent exposure.