General

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, Brazilian President Lula was forced to postpone his visit to China scheduled for March 26-31 due to H1N1 infection, and a super large entourage including over 40 senior government officials and over 200 business leaders also canceled their plans to visit China. However, Brazil's Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Carlos Favaro, is still on his way. On the 22nd, Favaro led his team to arrive in Beijing ahead of schedule. They met with Yu Jianhua, Director of the General Administration of Customs of China, and Tang Renjian, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. They also attended the "China Brazil Sustainable Development Dialogue". At present, it can be said that Varo is the only ministerial official who has truly arrived in China among Lula's proposed delegation to China. Before the President arrives, the Minister of Agriculture takes the lead. It is self-evident that Brazil attaches great importance to agricultural cooperation with China.

Brazil is the largest economy in South America, with developed agriculture and animal husbandry. With unique natural resource endowments and rich agricultural development experience, Brazil is an important exporter of agricultural products in the world and is recognized as the "world granary". According to Huacheng's import and export data observation report, its soybean production and export volume both rank first in the world, corn production ranks third in the world, and export volume ranks second in the world. The export volume of sugar, coffee, orange juice, tobacco, and alcohol ranks first in the world, and the production and export volume of beef, chicken, and pork also ranks among the top in the world. According to the data of Brazil's National Bureau of Geostatistics, in 2022, Brazil's total grain output was about 310 million tons, including 150 million tons of soybean, 123 million tons of corn, and 10.4 million tons of rice. As of 2022, China has become Brazil's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, and is the largest export destination for pork, chicken, and beef in Brazil. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in February this year, Brazil voluntarily suspended beef imports to China due to atypical cases of mad cow disease. One of the major achievements of Minister Favalo's visit to China is the resumption of Brazil's export of boneless beef under 30 months of age to China.

For China, Brazil's role is also crucial. It is China's ninth largest trading partner and China's largest trading partner in Latin America. In the field of agricultural products trade, Brazil is the largest source of imports of soybeans, soybean oil, beef, chicken, and sugar in China, and the second largest source of imports of cotton and pork. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2022, China imported US $37.32 billion of soybeans from Brazil, accounting for 60.9% of the total soybean imports for the year, and twice the amount of soybeans imported from the United States. During the period of trade friction between China and the United States, agricultural products such as soybeans and soybean meal from Brazil have become important import substitutes for China. In the same year, China imported US $200 million of soybean oil from Brazil, accounting for 41.7% of the total import of soybean oil throughout the year; Imported beef amounted to USD 7.53 billion, accounting for 41.8%; Imported chicken reached 1.52 billion US dollars, accounting for 36.9%; Imported pork amounted to 1.07 billion US dollars, accounting for 16.4% of the total; Imported cotton amounted to USD 1.53 billion, accounting for 29.3%; Imported sugar reached 1.98 billion US dollars, accounting for 77.2% of the total. Trade data strongly proves that although Brazil is far away from China, it is a key partner for China to ensure the supply security of agricultural products by comprehensively utilizing both domestic and international markets and resources.

While the trade in agricultural products between China and Brazil is booming, more and more Chinese enterprises are starting to invest in agriculture in Brazil. Currently, these investments are mainly focused on the soybean industry chain. The strong consumer demand for soybeans and related products in the Chinese market is the main driving force for enterprises to travel to Brazil. It is a common practice for Chinese enterprises to produce soybeans and related products and resell them domestically. In 2008, Zhejiang Fudi Agriculture Co., Ltd. cooperated with Heilongjiang General Administration of Agricultural Reclamation to establish a farm in Brazil and register it as "Brazil Sunshine Agriculture Co., Ltd.", investing 200 million yuan in Brazil to purchase 16800 hectares of land for planting soybeans; In 2010, Chongqing Grain Group invested in the construction of a soybean planting base in the Brazilian state of Bahia; In 2014, COFCO entered Mato Grosso, an important soybean production region in Brazil, and has established a soybean processing, warehousing, and logistics network, becoming the largest soybean export enterprise in the state; From 2016 to 2017, Dakang Agriculture successively acquired and controlled Brazilian grain traders Fiagril and Belagr í cola, directly connecting with soybean farmers, obtaining over 7 million tons of local soybean grain resources; In 2019, the company cooperated with COFCO to further integrate and optimize the layout of the food industry chain, realizing the return of soybeans.

In addition to soybeans, Chinese enterprises' agricultural investment in Brazil also involves oil production and processing, seed source development, etc. In 2010, Shandong Guanfeng Technology Co., Ltd. invested and constructed a 50000 hectare oil palm planting base and a press plant with an annual output of 300000 tons of palm crude oil in Brazil; In 2017, CITIC Agricultural Fund and Longping Hi-Tech acquired Dow Chemical's corn assets in Brazil for US $1.1 billion. The acquired assets involved seed processing plants, seed research and development centers, corn germplasm resource banks, Morgan seed brands, and the term use rights of Dow seed brands; COFCO Group also operates grain, oilseeds, and corn businesses in Brazil, and is currently the third largest grain exporter in Brazil. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

The year 2023 is the first year of fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and also the starting year of accelerating the construction of a powerful agricultural country. At present, the problem of China's agriculture being large but not strong and abundant but not excellent is relatively prominent. The supply and demand of grain is still in a "tight balance" state, and key agricultural products such as soybeans are heavily dependent on imports. Meanwhile, on the Brazilian side, newly elected President Lula is embarking on rebuilding the Brazilian economy, which has been severely hit by the pandemic. Compared to former President Bosonaro, Lula's China policy is more proactive and pragmatic. The current government is actively seeking to expand trade with China and attract more Chinese capital into the Brazilian market. Agriculture was originally one of the three core issues during Lula's visit to China, and about one-third of the business representatives in his entourage were from Brazilian agribusiness enterprises. "Brazil can and must enhance food production, and can and should strengthen trade with China," Favaro said in a media interview

Based on the practical needs of China to accelerate the construction of an agricultural power and the positive demands of Brazil for the development of economic and trade relations between China and Brazil, the author believes that the prospects for agricultural cooperation between the two countries in the future are broad, and we should focus on strengthening our agricultural relations with Brazil in the following three aspects:

First, based on Brazil's development aspirations, increase agricultural investment in Brazil, steadily utilize overseas agricultural resources, and improve China's supply and security capabilities for key agricultural products. The agricultural products exported by Brazil are mainly transported from production areas to ports through railways and waterways, but the country's transportation infrastructure is generally outdated and inadequate, which seriously restricts the development of Brazil's foreign trade. At the "China Brazil Sustainable Development Dialogue" held on the 27th, Favaro stated that Brazil is interested in seeking more investment from Chinese companies to improve its domestic road infrastructure. Based on business development needs and in combination with local policies, Chinese enterprises can deeply participate in infrastructure construction in Brazil, expand their storage and logistics network in Brazil, develop and construct transportation projects that connect major crop production areas to ports, improve cargo transportation capacity, improve their control over key logistics nodes, and enhance the security of China's overseas agricultural product supply chain while reducing the import cost of Chinese agricultural products; Develop special planting plans for key agricultural products such as soybeans and corn, utilize Brazil's unique natural conditions to carry out agricultural production, expand overseas planting bases, and promote diversification of procurement sources for key agricultural products; It is also possible to further cooperate with relevant Brazilian parties in the entire industrial chain covering seed source development, fertilizer industry, agricultural machinery manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, terminal retail, and even futures markets, relying on Brazil, the "world granary", to create a world-class major grain merchant and improve China's agricultural resource allocation capacity in the global context.

The second is to strengthen agricultural technology exchanges and mutual learning between China and Pakistan, improve agricultural technological innovation capabilities, and promote grain production and income increase for farmers. As a major producer and exporter of agricultural products in the world, Brazil has always attached importance to the application of scientific and technological innovation in agriculture. According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Applied Economics, 69.7% of the growth in agricultural output in Brazil is attributable to technological innovation. Through the "Tropical Agricultural Revolution", Brazil successfully developed the tropical savanna into a fertile field suitable for planting soybeans, coffee, and tropical fruits. By establishing a production system for tropical crops and animal husbandry, carrying out grass and legume breeding programs, as well as animal breeding programs, the yield of animals and plants such as soybeans and beef cattle has been increased. Brazil's experience in experimental farming, soil improvement, seed selection and breeding has important reference significance for China to improve agricultural production conditions and improve agricultural productivity. In China, advanced technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence have been successfully applied in agricultural production, achieving real-time monitoring of crops and soil from macro to micro levels, effectively reducing the rate of pests and diseases, and improving crop yield and quality. China has broad space for exchanges and cooperation with Brazil in promoting agriculture through science and technology. We should further strengthen agricultural science and technology cooperation with Brazil, enrich and improve the exchange mechanism, promote the cross-border flow of innovative elements such as agricultural talents, knowledge, technology, and capital, promote agricultural modernization between the two countries, and make the dividends of scientific and technological development benefit the people of the two countries.

Third, work together to address global climate change and improve the sustainable agricultural development capabilities of the two countries. Agriculture, as a traditional industry that relies on the weather, bears the brunt of global climate change. Any change in climate factors such as temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and greenhouse gas concentration will have a profound impact on the agricultural production layout, planting system, and crop yield of a region. Currently, the situation of climate change is becoming increasingly severe, and agricultural production in China and Brazil is increasingly experiencing extreme weather attacks, resulting in adverse impacts such as reduced agricultural production and declining agricultural product quality. This not only brings direct economic losses to producers, but also intensifies the contradiction between supply and demand in the agricultural product market in the short term, which is not conducive to social stability; On the other hand, agricultural activities are also an important factor contributing to global warming, with agricultural sector emissions accounting for about one fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions. Although forests can effectively alleviate the greenhouse effect, in Brazil, with the expansion of soybean cultivation and livestock breeding borders, human destruction is causing an irreversible crisis in the "lung of the earth" Amazon rainforest. Forest fires triggered by the opening up of farmland are gradually transforming the Amazon rainforest from a carbon sink to a carbon source. China and Brazil are major agricultural countries that urgently need to ensure food security for 1.4 billion people, and major trading countries that possess the world's largest tropical rainforest and rely on natural resources to obtain comparative advantages in agricultural exports. Both countries have strong demands for mitigating and adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, exploring the development of climate smart agriculture, improving the resilience of agricultural supply chains, and reducing agricultural carbon emissions Promoting green and sustainable development of agriculture can become a key direction of future bilateral cooperation.