China question
How is China able to export fruits and nuts? Where do the farmers find the land to grow such crops? Are they cutting back on the production of grains? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: China question
Hi Michael, Land tenure is changing. After the rural reforms in the early 80s when the communes/brigades were disbanded, rural land usufruct rights were given to households while ownership remained in the hands of the state at the local level. Rural land usufruct rights are now increasingly tradeable. The government encourages the development of integrated agricultural companies that either lease the land from villages, or establish contracts with individual farmers to produce. Many of these companies are foreign, I know of some big Hong Kong and Thai players, but I don't keep track of this stuff very much. There's a good recent article about this here: http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?type=newsid=5360 Yes, grain production has been falling in China recently, although everyone claims that there is plenty of reserve grain. Usually urban sprawl and shady land deals are blamed for the reduction in grain production, not shifting production. China lost arable land equal to the area of Maryland to these processes last year according to this interesting article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6653-2004Apr12.html Cheers, Jonathan How is China able to export fruits and nuts? Where do the farmers find the land to grow such crops? Are they cutting back on the production of grains? This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
Re: China question
Michael Perelman wrote: I am reading all sorts of reports about soaring Chinese demand pushing up commodity prices. Has anybody thought abut the extent to which this effect undo the the beneficial effects of cheap Chinese imports?? Commodity prices, outside oil, have almost no effect on general inflation levels. The major cost these days is labor; raw materials are, by comparison, trivial. Doug
Re: China question
I am hearing more about natural gas than oil going up as a result of Chinese demand. Of course, coming out of the oil shocks in the 70s, some economists wrote that oil prices could not have much of an effect because fuel costs were so low. On Mon, Oct 27, 2003 at 10:01:32AM -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: Michael Perelman wrote: I am reading all sorts of reports about soaring Chinese demand pushing up commodity prices. Has anybody thought abut the extent to which this effect undo the the beneficial effects of cheap Chinese imports?? Commodity prices, outside oil, have almost no effect on general inflation levels. The major cost these days is labor; raw materials are, by comparison, trivial. Doug -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
China question
I am reading all sorts of reports about soaring Chinese demand pushing up commodity prices. Has anybody thought abut the extent to which this effect undo the the beneficial effects of cheap Chinese imports?? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: China question
This doesn't respond to your question but as I read of the same demand for commodities I wonder if China is pouring dollars back out of the country for a couple of purposes -- to hedge on commodity prices and to lower the heat on the devaluation issue. Any thoughts? Gene Coyle Michael Perelman wrote: I am reading all sorts of reports about soaring Chinese demand pushing up commodity prices. Has anybody thought abut the extent to which this effect undo the the beneficial effects of cheap Chinese imports?? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
