Spotlight on farm product price rise
By Wang Lan (China Daily)Updated: 2007-06-14 13:43 The price discovery in agricultural produce will also help reduce the blind planting activities. "The price rise serves as an indicator to rearrange planting activities and optimize agricultural resources," Tan said.
"Usually the price increase in agricultural produce is not as frequent and significant as that of industrial products like energy and metals. It (the price increase) is a good opportunity to remind us to never develop industry at the expense of agriculture. The balanced development between industry and agriculture is key to a sustainable economy," Tan said.
Industrial experts said increasing industrial use of agricultural produce threatens higher demand of corn and soybeans in the near future. Corn is an important raw material for industrial alcohol while soybean and rapeseed oil are vital for the production of biofuel.
China is a big importer of agricultural produce. The price in the domestic market is usually in sync with the international market. Thus the price rise of agricultural produce in the international market was also considered a contributor to the domestic market rally.
The price increase in the domestic market will bring about some changes in planting areas and the range of agricultural produce in the domestic market in years to come.
"Planters will increase the planting areas of corn and soybean. Those who didn't plant corn and soybean before will also expand their range of agricultural produce to increase their earnings," said Zhang Yong of Nanhua Futures.
 | 1 | 2 |
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)