ABSTRACT
As has been shown in earlier chapters, demand for animal products and thus the derived demand for feedgrains is growing quickly in China. Many believe that feedgrain demand will become an increasingly important component of China’s future grain demand. Many also expect that China’s feedgrain market will undergo some changes given that China is now a member of the WTO. Some of the major expected changes include replacing non-tariff barriers by tariff-rate quotas, allowing non-state enterprises to engage in grain trade, stopping export subsidies to agricultural products, and relaxing restrictions on inter-regional feedgrain movement. These changes are expected to have tremendous effects on China’s feedgrain market. Further, it is noted that a significant regional imbalance exists between feedgrain demand and supply in China (see Chapter 7). With increasing external factors coming into play under the WTO framework, the regional distribution of feedgrain demand, supply and trade patterns will change.
