John wrote:United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact that there is no obvious reason for vastly increased imports, since there has been no rice shortage in China. The speculation is that Chinese importers are taking advantage of low international prices, but all that means is that China's own vast supplies of domestically grown rice are being stockpiled. Why would China suddenly be stockpiling millions of tons of rice for no apparent reason? Perhaps it's related to China's aggressive military buildup and war preparations in the Pacific and in central Asia.
This is interesting.
China's conventional military strategic superiority to the degree it has any, is in it's manufacturing capacity and it's population.
Both must be fed. War Industry requires Copper, Aluminum and Iron. Workers and soldiers require food.
Immediately after the Financial Crisis hit China went on a multi-year buying spree of copper while commodity prices were low. At the time there was speculation that China was trying to turn copper into a monetary reserve such a the United States did with Gold during the Great Depression.
I am not aware of a similar buying spree with regard to Aluminum and Iron.
To ramp up military production of ships and airplanes to world record production levels and maintain production at those levels for years will require huge stock piles of commodities like Iron, Copper and Aluminum.
I am not sure China has stock piled those levels of Iron, Copper and Aluminum.
In a country where foreign currency reserves are a closely guarded state secret it might be impossible to know how much stock piling has gone on over the past six years.
But it would seem perishable food stocks would be something you wait until the end to stock up on.
[quote="John"]United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact that there is no obvious reason for vastly increased imports, since there has been no rice shortage in China. The speculation is that Chinese importers are taking advantage of low international prices, but all that means is that China's own vast supplies of domestically grown rice are being stockpiled. Why would China suddenly be stockpiling millions of tons of rice for no apparent reason? Perhaps it's related to China's aggressive military buildup and war preparations in the Pacific and in central Asia. [/quote]
This is interesting.
China's conventional military strategic superiority to the degree it has any, is in it's manufacturing capacity and it's population.
Both must be fed. War Industry requires Copper, Aluminum and Iron. Workers and soldiers require food.
Immediately after the Financial Crisis hit China went on a multi-year buying spree of copper while commodity prices were low. At the time there was speculation that China was trying to turn copper into a monetary reserve such a the United States did with Gold during the Great Depression.
I am not aware of a similar buying spree with regard to Aluminum and Iron.
To ramp up military production of ships and airplanes to world record production levels and maintain production at those levels for years will require huge stock piles of commodities like Iron, Copper and Aluminum.
I am not sure China has stock piled those levels of Iron, Copper and Aluminum.
In a country where foreign currency reserves are a closely guarded state secret it might be impossible to know how much stock piling has gone on over the past six years.
But it would seem perishable food stocks would be something you wait until the end to stock up on.