China saw a great growth in the import of staple grain crops in the first quarter of 2021.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that China’s exports of raw grain and related products dropped year on year in 2021, while the imports soared.
 
Exports of raw grain: In March, the total export volume of staple grain crops including wheat, rice, corn, barley and sorghum amounted to 240,200 tons, of which 99.91% was rice. The figure for the first quarter was 652,000 tons, a year-on-year rise of 23.6%, and rice exports contributed to 99.70% (or 650, 000 tons, an increase of 25.0%) of the total.
In the quarter, the cumulative import volume of above raw grains totaled 15.369 million tons, up 228.2% year on year. The huge import volume had a bad impact on global markets and significantly suppressed the price in the Chinese market. By variety, the import volume of wheat, rice, corn, barley, sorghum and oats respectively reached 2.912 million tons, 1.248 million tons, 6.727 million tons, 2.388 million tons, 2.042 million tons and 53,000 tons, drastically increasing by 147.7%, 199.0%, 437.85%, 135.25%, 222.33% and 36.17% year on year separately.
Tubers: In the first quarter of 2021, the total import volume of dried cassava and cassava starch reached 2.511 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 65.65%, including 1.593 million tons of dried cassava and 918,000 tons of cassava starch, which increased by 80.9% and 44.5% year on year respectively. The total import volume of dried cassava and cassava starch is equivalent to 2.741 million tons of dried cassava, up 65.65% over the same period of the year before. Large quantities of imported cassava will replace corn in feed manufacturing in southern China, which is an important factor for the recent declines in the prices of corn and corn starch.
Synthesizing the imports of wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, dried cassava, cassava starch and DDGS, the total import volume of these products amounted to 17.897 million tons in the first three months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 190.3%. According to the current growth in imports, China’s annual import volume may be up to more than 80 million tons.
In terms of import prices (CIF), all these products except rice registered growths to varying degrees.