China’s ag industry is a major global player, especially when it comes to livestock, and it is a reason analysts say the U.S. needs to pay special attention to their trends.
China has 20 percent of the global population but not much farmable land. One ag tech consultant has been living and farming in China for more than a decade, and he tells aginfo.net that China is a major driver of global ag markets and that farmers could benefit from understanding how they operate.
“Farmers right around the world should and must take an interest in the trends of Chinese consumers and the welfare of the Chinese livestock sector in terms of sustainability,” said Ian Lahiffe.
China has come under fire in the second Trump Administration. The U.S. Trade Rep’s Office says China is dominating in areas like maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding, warning it places unreasonable burdens on U.S. commerce. They held a meeting this week to explore the use of fees on Chinese ship operators and owners. A U.S. shipping industry official calls the proposal “catastrophic.” One group says in 2022, more than a third of all commercial ships were built in China, and now that number is closer to 55 percent.
If those proposed fees go through, U.S. Meat Export Federation President Dan Halstrom says shippers may have to stop service at the Port of Oakland, a key port for U.S. meat exports to Asia.
“Some ports could be at risk of losing service entirely, and it’s been pretty well publicly stated by carrier companies, that if you use the West Coast as an example, you know, a lot of these ships coming from Asia will come into the South part of the West Coast into California, usually L.A., and then they work their ways north, and a lot of cases end up in Oakland. Oakland represents about 40% of our waterborne exports on the beef side, and we’ve had some of these companies publicly say that Oakland would be a candidate to stop service to if this current policy of the one-time port charge of up to a million dollars were to be instated.”
Halstrom adds that using ports in southern California for all U.S. beef and pork exports would not be feasible due to congestion. He says Oakland is crucial because it is the quickest route for chilled cargo, given its proximity to key markets like Tokyo.
