4-30 FB Chinese Meat
Even though the Chinese have a reputation for trying to do everything for themselves, which means they don’t have a big appetite for importing, when it comes to certain things such as agricultural products, they have no choice. Aidan Connolly, vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech told me the other day: “They are big believers in wanting to do it all themselves and while we would question sometimes whether that is right or wrong, we all understand that countries like the idea of being self sufficient. The reality of China is that it cannot be completely self sufficient. The increase, not just in the population, but specifically the increase in the consumption of milk, an increase in the consumption of chicken meat and pork is such that they are forced to import grain to feed the animals that produce the meat and milk themselves, but they are also importing large amounts of pork and chicken from the United States. The increase in protein consumption in China is the big story and it is leading to their feed industry growing to record levels but actually it is driving the feed industry globally. That is good for us.”
