China’s food security puts onus on agro-diplomacy as trade doors swing open and closed

Upcoming China International Import Expo will highlight need to strike a balance with trading partners as appetite of world’s biggest food consumer hits record highs

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Published: 11:00am, 3 Nov 2024Updated: 1:20pm, 3 Nov 2024

Boosting imports and closing the nation’s trade surplus with trading partners – those are the big goals when China opens its import-themed trade fair in the coming days.

Now in its 7th iteration since kicking off in 2018, the China International Import Expo (CIIE), which serves as a major platform for China to carve out a bigger piece of the global trade pie, will take place from November 5-10.

As a sign of its importance, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the opening ceremony and deliver a speech. Various leaders including the prime ministers of Malaysia, Slovakia, and Serbia, are also expected to attend, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Over the past few years, the food and agricultural portion has become one of the event’s most heavily trafficked, in terms of floor coverage and number of exhibitors.

Now, with China having recently announced plans to conduct an anti-dumping investigation into rapeseed imports from Canada, and to collect anti-dumping duties on European brandy, in retaliation for their tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, the door has been opened wider to agricultural goods from other parts of the world.

In early September, the first batch of African frozen mutton entered China, two weeks after the country received fresh durians from Malaysia for the first time.

With a comprehensive and diverse industrial chain, the manufacturing superpower is increasingly buying agricultural products from the global market in return for the figurative fruits of its massive industrial capacity.