China Makes First Export of Spring Wheat for Human Consumption

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 04, 2003

China Makes First Export of Spring Wheat for Human Consumption

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In what is seen as a significant leap for China's agriculture, Heilongjiang Province in the northeast, one of the country's major grain producers, is exporting tens of thousands of tons of spring wheat to southeast Asian countries.

This is the first time for China to export spring wheat for human consumption.

The export contract involving 50,000 tons of spring wheat, jointly signed by the province and the China Grain and Oil Import and Export Co., mainly targets Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore, which need quality flour for making bread and instant noodles.

Though the modest quantity involved has more symbolic meaning than profit value, China's first export of spring wheat for food marks an "historic step" in boosting food production and supply ability, according to Run Wenyi, a researcher with the provincial agricultural research institute.

"Chinese wheat is showing increased competitiveness in quality and price in the international market," Run said.

Since last December, 22,000 tons of spring wheat has been shipped to Dalian Port in northeast China's Liaoning Province for export.

Although China is the world's largest wheat producer with an annual production of 100 million tons, it has long been a large wheat importer.

After its first export of forage wheat in April 2001, China began exporting wheat for human consumption at the end of last year. China's wheat for export was subject to stricter quality, standards and quarantine test requirements, said Yang Hong, a senior manager with the China Cereal and Oil Import and Export Group.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, China's wheat exports were slightly more than imports last year, thanks to the restructuring of agricultural production in recent years.

After the government's purchase price protection scheme was dropped in 1999, domestic wheat production swiftly adjusted to the demands of cereal markets. Wheat producers also started to pursue more competitive quality, output and cost under government guidance.

Heilongjiang agricultural department figures show that though the acreage under spring wheat in the province shrank by 40 percent last year, the province had the best quality and largest yield in spring wheat production in the past five years.

Great changes in the global wheat supply in 2002 also contributed to China's exporting wheat for food, Run said.

With sharp declines of 30 to 50 percent in wheat output in such major producing countries as Canada, the United States and Australia due to severe droughts last year, wheat reserves in the world fell to the lowest in the past eight years and prices on global markets soared by over 20 percent, said sources from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"The wheat exports prove that China can guarantee to feed itself and contribute to the world's cereal supply," Run said.

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