Colin A. Carter – Författare

China, with over 20 percent of the earth's population, is both the world's largest producer and largest consumer of cereal grains. As a consequence, the supply and demand of grain in China will have a major impact on the world food trade. In this comprehensive study of China's grain production and trade, Colin A. Carter and Fu-Ning Zhong trace the historical role of China in the grain trade; analyze the impact of economic and political variables on production, consumption, and trade; and discuss alternative scenarios for China's future levels of trade. This is the first study to move beyond aggregate data to deal with regional models of Chinese grain production. The authors' major findings are that budgetary pressures will limit further increases in grain prices, and consequently the growth rate in grain yields will slow. As the total population continues to increase, China's area planted in grain will decline. The Chinese will gradually shift their food consumption toward more meat and other indirect grain consumption; therefore China may continue to import a limited amount of grain but imports will shift from wheat to feed grains.

This book traces the historical role of China in the grain trade; analyzes the impact of economic and political variables on production, consumption, and trade; and discusses alternative scenarios for China's future levels of trade. .

Food security can be defined as the perceived availability of a high-quality, domestically-produced staple food supply which will maintain the existing standard of living. This book provides a forum for a panel of distinguished authors to debate such issues as whether or not many developed countries in Asia – such as Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Singapore – have legitimate concerns about their food security. They find, controversially, that this issue is of importance to all countries, not just to developing countries lacking the income to acquire an adequate food supply.The authors analyse the forces affecting the demand for, and supply of, staples such as rice, vegetable oils and protein meals. Rice is the most important staple in Asia and so the authors pay particular attention to the effects of rice production strategies and trade policies on food security. They examine the implications of trade liberalisation in the ASEAN free trade area and in East Asia on agricultural trade and food security. They also discuss the implications of China’s ongoing economic transition on its intra-provincial and international agricultural trade, and its policy on self-sufficiency.Food Security in Asia provides a timely evaluation of the food security issue which will be of interest to scholars of Asian studies, agricultural economics and international economics.