China: A Voracious Buyer of Foreign Agricultural Land

A Chinese tycoon’s purchase of vast wheat fields in France highlights China’s increasing acquisition of foreign farmland as the Asian giant seeks to keep up with its massive population’s growing appetite, according to an article on TheStar.com.

With 1.4 billion mouths to feed — one-fifth of the world’s population — but less than 10 percent of the planet’s arable land, China has looked abroad to fill its food needs.

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In addition to rising consumption, appalling food safety scandals at home have also boosted the appeal of imported products, seen as safer bets.

Chinese investment in agriculture abroad has soared to at least $94 billion since 2010, with almost half of that invested in the past two years, according to statistics from US-based think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

Private and state-owned Chinese enterprises have made investments covering nine million hectares (22 million acres) in developing countries as of 2012. But in recent years, attention has shifted to Australia, the United States and Europe.

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