In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...
Category: Agriculture
China Says Extends Probe Into Beef Imports
China has extended a months-long investigation into whether beef imports had harmed the domestic industry, the commerce ministry said Wednesday. The price of beef in China has trended downwards in recent years, with analysts blaming oversupply and a lack of demand ...
[WEEK IN REVIEW] China Invests in Angola to Secure Food Supply Chains
Chinese construction giant Sinohydro signed a $100 million deal with Angola to build out the country's agricultural infrastructure in a bid to boost grain production. While 60% of the output from this venture will be shipped to China, the rest will ...
Mango Deal Sweetens Ties Between Bangladesh and China
Bangladesh waved off its first consignment of mangoes to China on Wednesday, a largely symbolic export as Beijing seeks to sweeten ties after relations soured between Dhaka and its former ally and neighbor, India. Bangladesh, still reeling from the political fallout ...
China, EU Suspend Brazil Chicken Imports Over Bird Flu
China and the European Union have suspended imports of chicken meat from Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of the commodity, after an outbreak of bird flu on a farm in the South American country, officials said Friday. China is the main importer ...
China, EU Suspend Brazil Chicken Imports Over Bird Flu
China and the European Union have suspended imports of chicken meat from Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of the commodity, after an outbreak of bird flu on a farm in the South American country, officials said Friday. China is the main importer ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China Further Shifts Agricultural Trade to South America in Tariff Standoff
Halting food and fuel imports from the United States will not negatively affect China's food and energy security, a senior Chinese official said on Monday. Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China has sufficiently diversified its imports that a freeze in U.S. ...
Why U.S. Farmers Have Good Reason to be Nervous About China’s Shift to Brazil for Agricultural Products
China's move to end its reliance on U.S. agricultural imports began during the first Trump administration in the late 2010s and has accelerated rapidly in years, prompting a lot of U.S. farmers to fret whether that once lucrative business will ever come back.
WEEK IN REVIEW: U.S. Plans to Use Tariff Talks to Curb China Ties
The U.S. chip manufacturer Nvidia said it could face a $5.5 billion loss from new restrictions on the sale of its H20 chips to China, communicated by the Trump administration to the company last week. The H20 (released in 2024) was designed around already stringent U.S. export rules ...
China’s Durian Market Heats Up as Indonesia Challenges Thailand and Vietnam
China’s insatiable appetite for durian fuels a high-stakes competition among Southeast Asian suppliers, with Indonesia now pushing to enter the lucrative market. Long dominated by Thailand, with Vietnam rapidly expanding its footprint, the sector is poised for further disruption ...
Thailand’s Fruit Exports Hit $6.51 Billion in 2024, Durian Leads as China Remains Top Market
Thailand’s fruit exports soared to $6.51 billion in 2024, with the overwhelming majority, 97.4%, heading straight to China, according to the Trade Policy and Strategy Office TPSO. Fruit was the most valuable agricultural export last year, with durian, longan, mangosteen, ...
As Trade War Worsens, Chinese Ag Buyers Shift From U.S., Canada to Brazil
Beginning Monday, China will increase tariffs on U.S. chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton exports by 15%, with duties on a slate of other food products, including soybeans, pork, and beef, going up by an additional 10%. The Commerce Ministry in Beijing says these latest measures are in response to 20% ...
Chinese Countermeasures Against U.S. Agriculture Could Bode Well for Global South Countries
China is expected to target U.S. agricultural goods in its latest countermeasures against new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, according to the Communist Party-run newspaper Global Times. Since China is the largest export market for U.S. farmers, any new ...