Vice-president says China needs more corn, soybeans, pork

JOHNSTON, Iowa - Vice President Xi Jinping of China met with agricultural commodity leaders before dinner on Wednesday night last week.

Through an interpreter, the man who will soon take over the world’s fastest growing nation expressed their need for more corn, soybeans, and pork.  

“As the Governor introduced us, Xi shook my hand and specifically voiced China’s need for more corn,” said Craig Floss, CEO for the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. “I was standing with counterparts from the soybean and pork industries in Iowa. We work together on many different occasions, but this was very symbolic of a unified effort for expanding exports of Iowa’s top crops to China.”

China is now the largest trading partner of the U.S. and about one quarter of the $100 billion annual trade between the two countries is agriculture.

According to the US Grains Council, China is the world’s second-largest corn consumer and will probably quintuple imports of grain in the next five years.

Since September, China has purchased 2.6 million metric tons of U.S. corn, up considerably from the 313,000 metric tons it purchased last year at this time.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Chinese Minister of Agriculture  Han Changfu led an agriculture symposium before the Chinese delegation headed to California yesterday.

The symposium was attended by agriculture leaders from around Iowa and the U.S. and focused on how the two countries can collaborate.

Han and Vilsack also signed a five-year collaborative agreement during the symposium that included technical exchanges in animal and plant health, food security, biotechnology, genetic research, agricultural markets and trade, as well as cooperative research.

“Similar to the Khrushchev visit in 1959, Iowa commodities, including Iowa’s corn growers were instrumental in making a historical and diplomatic first step,” said Floss. “The symposium focused on three key items; food security, sustainability, and food safety. This dialogue paves the way for more cooperation in the future.”

The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB), works to develop and defend markets, fund research, and provide education about corn and corn products. The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) is a membership organization lobbying on agricultural issues on behalf of its 6,700 farmer members.

Both organizations work on the joint mission to create opportunities for long-term Iowa corn grower profitability.