China must invest abroad for food security, forum told

China must invest overseas to ensure its food security, said speakers at the recent Asian Financial Forum.

"China and India have to open to global markets like Australia, Africa and Latin America, and invest in these countries' agricultural production for food security," said Fan Shenggen, the director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

By 2020, China would need to import 100 million tonnes of grain each year, Fan said. Last year, it imported three million tonnes of rice, three million tonnes of wheat and 60 million tonnes of soya beans.

China accounted for 60 per cent of the world's trade in soya beans, said Frank Ning Gaoning, the chairman of Cofco, China's largest food conglomerate. It also had a US$27 billion annual food deficit.

State-owned Cofco acquired Australia's Tully Sugar in 2011.

China overtook the United States as the largest animal feed consumer in the world about 18 months ago, said Ismael Roig, the Asia-Pacific president of Archer Daniels Midland, a US food and commodities company.