Fatter prices for all types of meat may be on the cards as religious and health concerns threaten to curtail supply from the world’s top beef exporting countries and leading importer China seeks to satisfy its appetite with other sources.

India exported the most beef in 2016, sending 1.76 million tons abroad, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a figure that equates to 19% globally. The bulk of India’s total comes from buffalo meat, which sells for around half the price of ordinary beef. And though roughly half of these Indian exports go to Vietnam, much of that meat is forwarded to China, the top beef consumer worldwide.

But that all stands to change after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ordered a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in late May. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party triumphed in key state elections in March, giving Modi the political muscle to enact the ban. The country’s Supreme Court suspended the law on Tuesday. But the party is backed by a Hindu nationalist group that is particularly opposed to the slaughter of cows — a sacred animal in Hindu tradition — casting uncertainty over whether India will remain a stable beef supplier.

Beef buyers also are preparing for a lean period from Brazil, based not on politics or religion but rather over questions of safety. The country exported 1.69 million tons of beef last year, or 18% of the world total. But the U.S. on June 22 halted imports of fresh Brazilian beef, citing food safety concerns. Brazilian media report abscesses were found on beef carcasses. This incident comes after Brazilian meat processors were discovered in March to be selling chicken and other products that fell short of sanitary standards.

These quality concerns could give China further reason to take its business elsewhere. The Asian nation imported 812,000 tons of beef in 2016, according to the USDA, beating No. 2 importer Japan by nearly 100,000 tons. Though Japan obtains no beef from India or Brazil, the country still may face rising prices for various meats as China substitutes products from those leading markets with others, according to a major meat wholesaler.

Meat from Australian milk and breeding cattle, sold here in ground form, fetched around 705 yen ($6.18) per kilogram on the wholesale market in early July, up 19% from a year prior. Fewer cattle have been raised due to a drought in the country, eating into supply. Prices on Thai chicken have fattened 5% on the year as buyers shift away from the meat’s Brazilian counterpart.

Japan is entering a season of heavy demand for meat. But passing on any rising wholesale prices to the public could blunt sales, said a representative for Tokyo-centric supermarket chain Inageya, if the country’s sluggish personal consumption figures are a reliable indicator.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review.

A Chinese delegation headed by H.E. Niu Dun, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, attended the 40th Session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference in Rome on 3-8 July 2017.

With the theme of Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, the 40th Session covered important topics on global food and agriculture governance. Over 1100 delegates from 180 plus countries attended the Session.

In his speech at the Session, Mr. Niu Dun stated that China always attaches great importance to addressing climate change in agriculture, commits itself to a joint endeavor with the international community in the implementation of the Paris Agreement to further agricultural development, rural prosperity and farmer’s well-being. He stressed that China highly values international agricultural cooperation and dedicates to promoting global food security through South-South and Triangular Cooperation. He called on all parties to firm up resolve on the fight against poverty and hunger, build new types of partnership, and shape inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth against mounting global challenges including climate change.

The 40th Session reviewed and endorsed the FAO Programme of Work and Budget 2018-19 and the Proposed Scale of Contributions. China’s share is expected to increase significantly, making China the 3rd largest contributor.

China was successfully re-elected as an FAO Council member at the 40th Session of the Conference and elected as a member of the Finance Committee at the subsequent 157th Session of the Council.

A side event of China-FAO South-South Cooperation: Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Development was held on 6 July. The event highlighted China’s contribution to SSC and is attended by Mr. Niu Dun, FAO Director-General and ministerial-level officials and ambassadors from nearly 30 countries.

Source: MOA China. Date: 2017-07-13

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In the past month, the whole of China has experienced disastrous rain. Many fruits and vegetables have been destroyed by water, and the produce that is left is of terrible quality. The rain has been falling continuously for a long time now and is expected to continue until August. Up until now, there have not been many hurricanes. The upcoming weather will depend on many uncertain factors.

Drowned cucumbers

Based on the damage in the south, there is no need for worries about the price in the short term for both leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables. Because of the lesser damage in the north, the few products that are mainly produced in this area, such as carrots, potatoes and onions, will not be affected much either. There is a difference in price with other breeds, and this will not change. Overall, products with a good current price will have the opportunity to maintain this price in the short term. Products with a bad price will also stay that way.

Vegetable greenhouses destroyed by heavy rain

When it comes to fruit, between April and June, the low temperatures and heavy rain have severely damaged fruits, such as cherries and waxberries. Especially because of the continuous rain at the end of April, large quantities of cherries have cracked, leaving them tasteless. Over 80% of the produce is damaged. Also, because of the rain at the end of June, waxberries have fallen off and rotted, leaving no harvest.

Banana plantations after heavy rain

Fruits such as plums and peaches are now in their most important growth phase. Looking at the weather, if there is no improvement in management, many plums and peaches will be infected by bacteria. What deserves attention is that Chinese plums will be ready for harvest by the end of June. Any rain could cause the fruit to fall, crack and rot.

Source: Fresh Place. Date 2017-07-13

Every day, Chen Yandong handles dozens of packages for the residents in Gaozhai village in Northwest China’s Gansu province.

From appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners to daily necessities like razors and toothpaste, Chen is amazed by how residents of the remote village make the most of their Internet connections to add convenience to their lives.

“People are happy to get access to good prices and quality products from online vendors,” Chen said.

E-commerce is helping revitalize China’s rural villages, home to half of the country’s population. It has also emerged as a new growth driver for consumer spending in the world’s second largest economy.

China has the world’s largest e-commerce market. As the incomes of rural residents increase, growth in online retail purchases by rural shoppers has outpaced their urban counterparts.

China’s rural residents spent 894.54 billion yuan ($131.47 billion) online in 2016, accounting for 17.4 percent of the nation’s total, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

E-commerce is also opening the doors to the huge rural market for companies and farmers.

Alibaba, which began a rural strategy on its e-commerce platform Taobao in 2014, has set up local service centers in about 30,000 villages across 700 counties to support its e-commerce business and provide delivery services in rural areas.

To meet rising demand, e-commerce giant JD.com is expanding its service center workforce to over 300,000 in rural areas.

Farmers have also raked in handsome profits from selling premium produce online.

Li Chunwang. from Wugong county in Shaanxi province, has set up a cooperative which purchases fruit from farmers and sells it online. Previously it made an annual income around 3 million yuan. In 2016, the number shot up to nearly 300 million yuan.

The city of Donggang in Northeast China’s Liaoning province is well-known for its strawberries. In 2016, more than 80 percent of the city’s strawberries and strawberry-related products were sold online. In the first three months this year, online sales reached 1.2 million yuan.

Tian Yihong, party secretary of Wugong county, said e-commerce has given local agriculture a boost and farmers no longer remain stuck at the lower end of the value chain.

The government has reiterated its support for e-commerce in underdeveloped rural areas. The Ministry of Commerce announced in October 2016 that “policy support will be given to small online retailers … to lower their operational costs.”

More will be done to support and nurture e-commerce businesses operating in rural regions, and training programs will be offered to small business owners, according to the ministry’s website.

As part of the Chinese government’s goal to eliminate poverty by 2020, it has created more than one thousand “Taobao villages” over the past decade.

Online sales revenue in 105 national-level poverty-stricken counties, including the model districts lauded by the Ministry of Commerce, reached 220 million yuan on average in 2016.

E-commerce plays a key role in poverty reduction, by not just giving a man a fish, but also teaching him how to fish, said Liu Qiangdong, chairman of JD.com.

Online business owners in rural China topped 8.11 million in 2016, creating over 20 million jobs.

Rural Internet users rose to 201 million, or 27.4 percent of the nation’s total.

E-commerce has changed people’s lives and their ways of thinking in rural China. Inspired by this good momentum, it is good to see talented people returning to their rural hometowns to start new businesses, said Li Yongjian with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Source: China Daily. Date: 2017-07-11

Executives from the CBH Group and Interflour jointly celebrated the opening of the Intermalt grain processing centre with representatives of the Vietnamese government.

Intermalt is located in Cai Mep, Vietnam, and will be the largest malting plant in South East Asia. It will have the capacity to produce 110,000 tonnes of malt a year and will service major brewers in the region including Heineken Vietnam.

CBH Chairman Wally Newman said through its 50 per cent shareholding of Interflour the cooperative’s involvement in downstream grain processing in Vietnam has diversified the farmer owned business’ income stream and resulted in increased market opportunities for Australian grain.

“CBH’s investment in Interflour 12 years ago was ground breaking and the opening of the Intermalt facility marks a new phase of growth for the business as it moves into barley processing and expands across South East Asia,” Mr Newman said.

“It will be a new chapter for Western Australian barley growers who now have direct access to Vietnam’s burgeoning beer market,” he said.

Mr Newman said over the past harvest growers delivered 1.5 million tonnes of malt barley into the CBH silos and the facility provides a new market for growers.

As part of the final commissioning phase, Intermalt has already purchased 42,000 tonnes of malt barley, with 32,000 tonnes coming from the Kwinana and Albany port zones of the Western Australian grain belt.

“Not only is the Intermalt infrastructure impressive, but so too is the growth and opportunity it affords our growers, our businesses and the Asia Pacific region as a whole,” Mr Newman said.

“Our current and future growers can look forward to benefiting from Interflour’s expansion and this new venture generating value that we can then return to them a number of ways including through our investment rebate,” he said.

Heineken Vietnam corporate affairs director Matt Wilson said Heineken Vietnam always seeks to use local suppliers where possible in order to drive jobs and wealth in Vietnam.

“Our preference for local sourcing has seen us contribute around 0.75% of Vietnam’s total GDP and support nearly 200,000 jobs in Vietnam,” Mr Wilson said.

“Because of this, we are very happy to see Intermalt entering the local market with the potential to supply us with locally produced malt in the future and increase our contribution to the Vietnamese economy,” he said.

CBH Chairman Wally Newman and Chief executive officer Andy Crane attended the ceremony together with directors and senior leaders including Interflour Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Greg Harvey, Intermalt General Manager James Kirton and representatives from the Vietnamese government.

Source: Farmingahead. Date: 2017-07-12