The Study On The Import Trade Of GM Soybean And Its Influence On Soybean Industry Development In China

As one of China’s most important food crops, soybean has a long cultivated history of 5000 years. According to historical records, soybean along with its products serves as delicacies, providing abundant vegetable protein and nutrients needed by Chinese people. As the original country of soybeans, China’s import and export trade has played a vital role in international agricultural product trade. For example, China’s export volume of soybeans accounts for 90% of world’s total export volume in 1982, which once served as important materials for foreign exchanges.However since 1996, China’s import share of soybeans has been on a rapid increase due to its tariff reduction and stagnating production in addition to China’s increasing demand for soybeans and annual decreasing soybean plantation acres. With opening up more of its soybean market and scrapping the quotas on soybeans, China has very soon become a net importer from a net exporter. In 2012, the number of China’s imported soybeans was as large as 58,380,000 tons while domestic production was only 12,800,000 tons, indicating that China’s soybean import degree of dependence had amounted to over 80%. Due to the greatly increasing market demand for soybeans, based on the calculation method of virtual farmland this paper has reached the result that if China realizes self-sufficiency in soybeans, it would be at the cost of decreasing a mass of plantation acreages of other main crops, which would further threaten food security in China. Therefore, it is not plausible to approach those problems only through increasing domestic soybean production and reducing soybean imports. A rational attitude should be adopted towards soybean trade’s role in increasing China’s agricultural production and improving people’s living standard.Studies have suggested that soybean import trade starting from the end of 20th century has saved a large quantity of land resources for China’s agricultural production. Yet, it also causes comparative singularity of import origins and more risks in trade. Thereto, by analyzing accessibility of international soybean, the paper has concluded that we should make full use of external resources and carry out effective strategies of virtual farmland according to characteristics of China’s soybean market. Meanwhile, it is necessary to establish a soybean security strategic system in accordance with the features of the soybean industry, to strive to develop the deep processing industry of non-GM soybeans by playing comparative advantages of traditional soybeans, and to guarantee China’s food security and positive development of soybean industry through adjustment of production capacities of domestic soybean industries and promotion of industrial reforms and upgrading.