China ditches grain self-sufficiency policy

China’s State Council has set grain output targets below domestic consumption rates, effectively abandoning its long-standing grain self-sufficiency policy, Financial Times reported. The guidelines call for grain production to “stabilize” at roughly 550m tonnes by 2020, below the 2013 harvest of 602m tonnes. “While putting emphasis on food quantity, pay more attention to food safety and quality,” a document said, in a shift in tone and emphasis. A more liberal grains import policy was floated as a reform that might be adopted by President Xi Jinping, even before he became head of the Communist party in 2012.