A feature of world trade over the last ten years has been the dramatic growth of China’s trade with the world, and this paper examines the agricultural component of that trade. During the first six months of 2007 agricultural imports were 3.8 percent of total Chinese imports, a figure down from the 6.6 percent during the last six months of 1996. By value, total agricultural imports were US$ 16,459 million during this six-month period, up from US$ 5,030 million in the final six months of 1996. By product the main imports were soybeans (US and Brazil), cotton (US and India) and palm oil (Malaysia and Indonesia).

This paper examines Chinese agricultural imports and provides the profile of selected import sources. It starts with global imports, and then moves sequentially through imports from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, India, US, EU and ASEAN. The reports on the aggregate position for each of these sources, followed by an analysis of the top 15 agricultural products (and then the top-ten fisheries products), and for the individual sources a common template is used whereby data is presented for the first year (ending September 1996) and the last two September year along with their MFN (i.e., non TRQ) tariff rates, market shares, variability of the imports and the main competitors and their market shares. The emphasis of the paper is upon placing the position of South Africa's agricultural trade with China in perspective.

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