While the long-term fundamentals suggest that the ongoing westernization of China's diet should lead to increased imports of soybeans, corn and pork, the country's economic policies over the past four years are resulting in a near-term drag on consumption. Rising Food Inflation Squeezes China's Middle Class The sputtering demand for pork, poultry and other agricultural foodstuffs in the first four months of 2014 is not the result of seasonality or a sudden slowdown in domestic consumer demand. Rather, the situation is the outgrowth of government policies that have favored Chinese producers, particularly the export-driven industries over households. China's response to the 2008 global financial crisis was to inject large sums of capital in...

TAGS – Feed Grains, Soy & Oilseeds, Wheat, Livestock, Asia, China, North America