“China Eats the World” details growing Chinese impact on oilseed prices

In an article titled “China Eats the World”, part of the landmark report Biodiesel 2020, author Will Thurmond finds that “China is eating a disproportionately large volume of the world’s oilseeds.

In the last decade, China’s soybean imports skyrocketed from 0.8 million metric tons in 1994 to 27 million metric tons in 2005, an almost 27-fold increase.” Thurmond adds that “China’s needs for soybeans are growing faster than the top three producing nations in the world (US, Brazil and Argentina) can feed them.

“It can be argued,” writes Thurmond, “China’s rapid rate of the consumption of oilseeds has contributed more to oilseed/feedstock price inflation than biodiesel growth from 2005-2007.” Thurmond’s article predated yesterday’s report “It’s not Food, it’s not Fuel, it’s China” on China’s impact on global corn grain supply and demand.

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