China cuts need for feed seed as food security campaign ramps up

Source:  South China Morning Post
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China has released an action plan to reduce the amount of grain used in the feeding of its livestock – particularly soybean meal, a product that is mostly sourced from other countries – to maintain food security during an uncertain period for global trade.

The country is seeking to cut the proportion of grain in its animal feed to 60 per cent and that of soybean meal to 10 per cent by 2030, part of a larger campaign to keep supplies of staple crops secure, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs said last week.

The proportion of soybean meal, which China mainly imports from Brazil and the United States, has already decreased in recent years – from nearly 18 per cent in 2017 to 13 per cent in 2023 – as the country shifts to a lower-protein feeding pattern, the ministry said.

A full-spectrum initiative to minimise grain losses, including official warnings against food waste by consumers and spillage during transport and storage, has been implemented to safeguard domestic yields. The reliability of the grain supply for livestock has become a major concern as demand for meat increases.
Concurrently, the soybean trade has become a flashpoint in the US-China tariff war. The crop is still a leading US agricultural export, even with Beijing’s recent attempts to diversify its sources.
To increase efficiency in food production, the ministry vowed by 2030 to decrease the average feed consumption in standardised large-scale livestock farming by more than 7 per cent from 2023 levels.

It also pledged to increase the development and utilisation capacity of non-grain feeds, including incorporating synthetic amino acids, exploring domestic protein resources and growing grass instead of grain for this purpose.

If implemented well, these measures could lower the grains used for feed by tens of millions of tonnes, the ministry said in a January statement accompanying general guidelines on the issue.

“The grain-saving campaign in the livestock industry is not only a major measure to ensure stable production and supply of grain and important agricultural products, but also an important means to promote the high-quality development of the livestock industry,” it said.

China has reported a 95 per cent self-sufficiency rate for staple foods, but relies heavily on grains for animal feed, especially soybeans for protein. Customs data shows that soybean imports in March fell 36.8 per cent compared to the same period last year, dropping to 3.5 million tonnes – the lowest level observed in 17 years.

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