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

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.

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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.

South China Morning Post