China will become the world's leading importer of agricultural products within the next decade as the country faces shrinking farmland and other production constraints, reports Reuters.
A Chinese government think-tank said China's agriculture faces a number of challenges, including small-scale production, an underdeveloped supply chain and little technological support, which means domestic production is falling behind fast-growing demand.
"Because of the nation's limited agricultural resources, we have to look overseas," China's state-owned trading house COFCO Co Ltd told the China Daily. "The next 10 years will be a period of fast growth in China's consumption of foodstuffs."
COFCO will spend over US$10bn to fund overseas mergers and acquisitions in the next five years to cope with the country's rapidly growing demand for farm products.
The China Daily said COFCO will focus on acquisitions of food-supplying companies in a number of exporting countries, including the US, Australia and South East Asia.
China is already the world's top importer of soy and cotton, and the second largest consumer of corn.
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