China to spend 24 2 billion stockpiling agricultural products in 2025

BEIJING – China on March 5 raised its annual grain production target to around 700 million tonnes, a similar level to 2024, and expanded its agriculture stockpile budget, pushing for stronger measures to safeguard food supplies as tensions with trade partners intensify.

The world’s largest importer of farm goods brought in more than 157 million tonnes of grains and soybeans in 2024, but is seeking to cut its heavy dependence on supplies that mostly come from the United States and Brazil.

Beijing raised its 2025 budget for stockpiling grain, edible oils and other materials by 6.1 per cent from a year ago to 131.66 billion yuan (S$24.3 billion),according to an official report.

It also allocated 54.05 billion yuan of subsidies for agricultural insurance premiums.

The 2025 target for domestic grain output set the bar higher compared to its 2024 target of 650 million tonnes, after the nation harvested a record 706.5 million tonnes in 2024.

“China’s increase in its stockpile budget is part of efforts to establish a minimum baseline or to prevent food reserves from falling to a certain level,” said Ms Genevieve Donnellon-May, a researcher at the Oxford Global Society.

The increased measures to safeguard food security underscore Beijing’s efforts to prepare for a long trade war with the US and increasingly complex geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges, she said.

“The announcement could also signal to the country’s major grain growing provinces to further push to increase yields and production,” Ms Donnellon-May said.

In addition to US tariff issues, China also launched trade investigations over pork and dairy imports from the European Union and canola imports from Canada due to disputes over tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

The total value of China’s agriculture imports fell 8 per cent in 2024 to US$215 billion (S$287 billion),according to