The Analysis On China's Food Trade And Food Security

This article concerns the issue of China's food security from the perspective offood trade .On the basis of studying and summarizing on the research results ofprevious scholars, this article takes wheat, corn, rice and soybeans as main researchobject, analyses the status quo of China's grain production and consumption, graintrade and food security , then did a comparative advantage analysis on China's food ingeneral and some specific food in use of revealed comparative advantage index andthe trade specialization index. Pointing out problems of China's current food tradesystem and policy and giving some suggestions about China's food trade that are infavor of China's food security in accordance with the above analysis.The full text is divided into five sections, the first part is introduction. This partintroduced the meaning and background of choosing this topic at first. Food is thebasic resource for human survival and strategic resource for safeguarding of nationalsovereignty which is also essential to maintain the stability of one country. And theproblem of food security has been always in existence accompanied by the emergenceand development of human beings. In addition, some new situation arose, such asgrain prices have been raised significantly both in international and domestic marketsince 2006 and some countries even in food crisis. As a result, there is importanttheoretical significance and practical significance to always pay attention to China'sfood security and adjusting grain trade strategy timely. Secondly, this part gives a briefsummary on the research results of previous scholars which includes two aspects:situation of China's grain supply and demand and the relationship of food trade andfood security. About the problem of food supply, even though some scholars arepessimism and some are optimistic about China's future food supply. Most scholarsbelieve that there will be a gap for China's future grain supply, and the difference lies in that they take a different attitude towards the size of the gap. The same conclusionscan be drawn on food demand basically. That is, China's per capita grain demand isreducing, but the total number is still impressive. About the relationship of food tradeand food security, there are two views, some scholars insist domestic product, whilesome scholars insist foreign trade.The second part mainly analyzes the status of China's grain trade and foodsecurity in use of the latest data. As the situation of domestic grain supply and demandhas a direct impact on situation of food import and export and food security, this partstarts from the analysis of domestic food production and consumption. Then discussingthe status quo of China's grain trade from the following aspects: total volume of trade,change of import and export of specific varieties of grain and source of imports.Finally, this part gives an assessment on the situation of China's food securityaccording to the FAO definition and measure of food security. This part is also asummary on the former analysis of China's grain supply and demand and trade status.There are two conclusions according to former analysis of China's grain supply anddemand: First, there is a gap for China's grain supply and demand, so it's necessary forChina to balance surplus and deficiency through international trade. Second, the gap isnot large enough to pose a threat to food security in our country. Besides, formeranalysis on the status quo of China's grain trade shows that the situation of China'simport source of main food relatively concentration will do harm to China's foodsecurity .Overall, China's grain security is at a higher level although some problemsexist.The third part is the comparative advantage analysis of China's grain trade. Firstof all, giving the theoretical basis for the following analysis, that is the theory ofcomparative advantage and its commonly used analytical methods and analytical tools.Think of the feasibility, this paper chooses the main instrument which can reflect thechanges of a country's comparative advantage though the change of its import andexport volume to do the comparative advantage analysis of China's grain trade ofmain products. Then this part did a comparative advantage analysis on China's grain trade in general and wheat, corn, rice, soybean four major food crops in use ofrevealed comparative advantage index and the trade specialization index. The newestdata available of China and the World's food import and export are used in the aboveanalysis. According to the analysis results of the two indices, the following unanimousconclusions can be drawn: that is, China's grain trade in general does not havecomparative advantage, and in four major varieties of grain, corn, and rice has acomparative advantage which are suitable for export, however, the comparativeadvantage of rice is gradually weakened. Wheat and soybeans are in relatively inferiorpositions which are suitable for import. Finally, this part briefly reviewed China'sWTO commitments and gave a brief analysis on the impact they have on China's foodcomparative advantage from the follow four aspects: market access, elimination ofexport subsidies, animal and plant quarantine standards and domestic support.The fourth part is China's grain trade system and trade policy analysis. Talking offood system and food policy, the grain circulation system can't be forgotten. This partfirst gave a brief review on the reform of China's grain circulation system from 1953to 2001 and after accession to the WTO and food trade system and policies whichformed on basis of grain circulation system. Then, pointing out the issues such assmuggling under current trading system and gave a analysis of its causes from threeareas aspects.The fifth Part gave some suggestions on China's grain trade. This is also asummary of the full text. First, on the relationship of food trade and food security, Ithink the grain trade should be based on the premise of ensuring food security which isdifferent form former articles that insist on domestic production or international trade.This is also a creative point of this article. Secondly, this part gave some specificcomments on the total amount of China's grain trade and structural adjustmentaccording to the analysis of the second and third part. That is, increasing food importsappropriately to ensure the food reserves on the whole. From the point of tradestructure, we should increase wheat imports, reduce rice exports and control imports ofsoybeans. At the same time, we should strengthen international food cooperation to stabilize source of imported food system. Finally, in accordance with the analysis ofpart five, some policy suggestions are put forward to make up the loopholes and ensurefood security which includes strengthening macro-control on food trade and setting upand improving technical support system of national macro-control on food import andexport.