By Li Hongmei
China has imported a substantial amount of food as domestic production has failed to meet high domestic demand, which China Economic Net citing a netizen believes should be measured and rationalized, as it would affect the country's grain security on the basis that the global grain production is, after all, limited.
The net imports of three major food staples - rice, wheat and corn - consumed by the Chinese people was about 19 million tonnes in 2012, and the figure stood at 11.44 million tonnes during the first seven months of this year.
After China's corn consumption came to depend almost entirely on overseas supplies in 2011, the country is expected to outpace Egypt in becoming the world's largest wheat importer this year. China National Grain and Oils Information Center predicted that total wheat imports will reach 6.5 million tonnes this year.
It has been increasingly difficult for China to meet its goal of being self-sufficient, even though it has increased its domestic production of crops over the past decade.
The National Bureau of Statistics released a report on Nov. 29 stating that China's total food production for 2013 stood at 6.02 trillion tonnes, up by 2.1% compared to a year earlier.
However, apart from in 2008 and 2009, when food production slightly surpassed domestic demand, food production has been unable to meet demand over the last decade. And the gap is getting wider.
The gap partly results from the fact that China includes soybeans as food crops, and imported soybeans account for a large market share in China. In addition, the import of China's three main food items has been normalized, according to the Beijing-based Caijing magazine.
The normalisation of imports of food crops saw a narrowing in the price gap between overseas and domestic foods. The cost of food production in China remains high due to the limited production scale as well as the shortage of arable land.
In addition, as food imports have grown significantly, food safety is a pressing issue in China.
It is noted that balancing the exports and imports of food is one of the keys to ensuring overall food safety in China.
