China Buying Wheat, Big Time

China making big wheat purchases from France and Australia
www.reuters.com...

The world's biggest wheat producer and consumer, China bought around two million metric tons of new-crop Australian wheat in October, for shipments starting in December, trading sources told Reuters. It has also booked about 2.5 million metric tons of French wheat since September, for December-March shipment, they said, noting these were unusually large volumes for this time of year.

Overall, China's 2023 imports are likely to reach around 12 million tons, two Singapore-based traders said, topping 2022's record 9.96 million tons, and the avid buying is expected to continue into 2024.

some of the analysis sounds dramatic.

Traders said China's frantic buying is likely to support global prices, which have dropped more than a quarter this year - based on the Chicago futures benchmark price - amid abundant supplies from top exporter Russia.
"They are buying as much as they can and as early as possible. Supplies are going to eventually tighten, especially from Australia," the trader said.

on the bright side; the more Chin spends on food, the less there will be for jets and ships and anti-Taiwan missiles.

I just hope there's plenty for the rest of us. the article mentioned Russia having a good harvest.

food is a global commodity. a good harvest in one area benefits everybody.

a reply to: Coelacanth55

ood is a global commodity. a good harvest in one area benefits everybody.

Yes, especially when you will start a war and have the food to feed your own people.

Hum, what China knows that we do not.

Wheat have a shelf life of about 30 years, without losing their nutritional value, soo perhaps they want it for an upcoming shortage?, time is very interesting.

originally posted by: marg6043
Hum, what China knows that we do not.

Wheat have a shelf life of about 30 years, without losing their nutritional value, so perhaps they want it for an upcoming shortage?, time is very interesting.

"A shelf life of about 30 years" if the wheat (or any grain) were properly grown, processed, and stored before being long-term stored in containers filled with nitrogen gas. However, when grains get infected with molds and fungus they may contain mycotoxins . . .

Mycotoxin
A mycotoxin is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' is usually reserved for the toxic chemical products produced by fungi that readily colonize crops.

en.wikipedia.org...

So, some Chinese panic buying from around the globe could cause an increase in mycotoxin poisoning for anyone who consumes Chinese food products containing wheat.

No surprise, China suffered devastating flooding fairly recently. Wiped out large amounts of agricultural production. It's been widely reported in certain circles but not been carried too much by the major networks. No surprise there either.

China has been taking a beating lately, Real Estate collapsing. Major flooding, Foreign manufacturing companies jumping ship, setting up plants all over the little dragons away from Chicomms dictatorial rule.

Rising unemployment in the 20 & 30 something age groups. It's actually been off the scale, it's so high their government has stopped reporting the figures.

originally posted by: TheMichiganSwampBuck
So, some Chinese panic buying from around the globe could cause an increase in mycotoxin poisoning for anyone who consumes Chinese food products containing wheat.

That would certainly be a problem for China and the Chinese, not so much for anyone else. If the wheat is contaminated by mycotoxins it won't meet the phytosanitary conditions to import to the majority of markets.

a reply to: TheMichiganSwampBuck

Yes that is true, that is why I research before getting into the mold and fungus problems that any grain contains, including coffee beans, many people have not clue the coffee they drink most of the time have fungus and mold, making them allergic to it, thinking that is allergy to milk.

But well prepared and stored, grains shelf life is about 30 years.

Like SLAYER69 said, and I concur.
They probably misreport all their figures.

With their social control programs being emulated in the West, I'm sure their reasoning is more about control than actually feeding people. Predicating the idea that they need more people to control.

Or, you know, to ramp up their military.

a reply to: Coelacanth55

China is hurting with massive rain etc so they need to buy. If you think about it, 150 lbs of wheat will feed one person per year times that by 1.5 billion then convert to tons it is a little over 100 million tons. Now let’s say they eat more rice to cut needed wheat in half they still need 50 million tons of wheat per year, and most of their crops were wiped out. They normally produce 200+ million tons of rice, but they need 140 to break even with their population, so they will not be close to 200 million in 2023 but still OK. They will also need 20 million tons of corn imported.

I say all this to show that 2 million tons of anything is a drop in china’s bucket, and so it isn’t some big hoarding event.

a reply to: marg6043
I was studying this in relation to malting barley for brewing beer and discovered it can be a big problem. I was surprised that coffee mold could produce mycotoxins, but apparently, many different molds and fungi produce toxins that can build up in agricultural systems. For example, grow grain in soil with pathogenic fungi, feed the infected grain to poultry or dairy livestock that then have massive toxins built up over their lifespan. Now eat the toxic eggs, milk/cheese, or meat from this livestock. Can you see how massive something like that could get?

valid point in re; China misrepresenting numbers.
do any of us really know what's going on there?

I guess its also possible that China expects massive disruption, possibly war (possibly them invading Taiwan)
and wants to stockpile and prepare as much as possible.
which isn't a bad idea even in good times.