The 3rd International Agricultural Market and Trade Forum was successfully held at Peking University

Release date：2024/04/09　　Source： CCAP

On March 29, the 3rd International Agricultural Market and Trade Forum was successfully held at Peking University. The forum was co-organized by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Peking University and Bank of China, and hosted by the School of Modern Agriculture/Institute of New Rural Development of Peking University, the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the School of Agricultural and Rural Development of Renmin University of China, with the support of Cargill Investments (China) Co. More than 300 representatives from agricultural departments of some countries, envoys in China, agricultural multinational enterprises and industry associations, local agricultural and rural departments, universities and institutes, and bases for high-quality development of agricultural international trade participated in this forum offline, while more than 800,000 people watched the forum online.

The forum set up guest speeches, keynote speeches and panel discussions. Dong Zhiyong, Vice President of Peking University, Sui Pengfei, Director General of International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and Zhao Rong, Director of Business Management of Bank of China (BOC), attended the forum and delivered speeches, and the opening ceremony was hosted by Ma Hongtao, Director General of the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mr. Dong Zhiyong, Vice President of Peking University, said in his speech that the forum focuses on researching and judging the development trend of the global agricultural market and trade, and provides an important platform for scientifically guiding the expectations of the international market of agricultural products. This year is a key year for Peking University to improve the quality of its academic disciplines, and Peking University will take this forum as an opportunity to deepen its research and understanding of the development laws of international agricultural markets and trade, and contribute Peking University's wisdom and strength to promote the healthy development of the world's food industry and safeguard the world's food security.

In his speech, Director Sui Pengfei shared his views on international agricultural markets and trade with three keywords: "Market-Marketing", "Trade-Trading" and "Service-Servicing". Trade-Trading" (Trade-Trading) and "Service-Servicing" (Service-Servicing), he shared his views on the international agricultural market and trade, and said that China will actively promote globalization and cross-border trade in agricultural services, and provide solutions for the high-level development of agriculture. solutions for the high level development of agriculture.

Mrs. Zhao Rong, Director of the Bank of China, said in his speech that the high-quality development of agricultural trade is of far-reaching significance to China in shaping a new advantage of open economy at a higher level and promoting mutually beneficial international economic and trade cooperation in agriculture. Bank of China will continue to give full play to its professional advantages in foreign exchange and foreign trade, provide high-level one-stop financial services, and help agribusinesses better integrate into the global agricultural supply chain.

Peng Tingjun, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, released the Report on the International Agricultural Market and Trade Situation (March 2024) of the Expert Committee on Agricultural Trade Early Warning and Relief. The report pointed out that global supply, demand and trade of agricultural products will be under pressure in 2024 due to the slow recovery of the global economy, the continued impact of El Niño, the fermentation of local conflicts and the prevalence of trade protectionism.

In the keynote speech, President of New Rural Development Institute,PKU, Professor Huang Jikun elaborated on China's global food and important agricultural trade trends, and put forward to actively promote global trade in order to promote China's and the world's food security and sustainable development, the construction of a good global trade environment and governance system, and multi-channel solution to the possible existence of China's protein feed imports of risk and other recommendations.

Arnaud Petit, Executive Director of the International Grains Council (IGC), elaborated on the outlook for global cereal production and trade trends to 2024 and said that IGC would continue to advance the dialogue among countries and maintain a focus on the food security-trade nexus to promote food security.

Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), provided a short- and medium-term outlook centred on the current situation of key global agricultural commodities by describing past developments. He emphasized the need for the global community to work together to increase investment in agri-food systems and in combating climate change in order to ensure the sustainable development of global agriculture.

Seth Meyer, chief economist at USDA, addressed the development of U.S. agricultural production and trade, stating that U.S. producers are concerned about managing market dynamics to cope with a more challenging economic environment. The USDA also regularly releases market information to improve transparency and information symmetry. At the same time, he emphasized that cooperation between China and the United States can enhance regional and global food security and strengthen the resilience of the global market.

Cheng Guoqiang, professor of Renmin University of China and director of the National Institute of Food Security Strategy, analyzed the development trend of global agricultural trade and new trends in food security, and concluded that these new development trends will have a profound impact on the future global agricultural market and trade.

Pierre Bascou, Deputy Director General of the European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, described how crop yields in the European Union over the past few years have been affected not only by crop production, but also by livestock production, and by the efficient use of resources, due to weather and other factors. In the future, EU agriculture will adapt to the new normal through sustainable and innovative practices that will enhance environmental health and soil productivity.

Deb Langford, Minister Counselor for Agriculture at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, provided an outlook for Australia's production and trade of major agricultural products in 2024, and emphasized that Australia will pay more attention to sustainable development, the global supply of food and nutrition, and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, adapt to climate change, and increase agricultural productivity.

Jean Gouhie, Agricultural Counselor of the Brazilian Embassy in China, looked forward to the production and trade of Brazil's major agricultural products in 2024 in terms of soybeans, corn, chicken and pork, and introduced Brazil's near-term plan to promote sustainable social development. At the same time, he hoped that China and Brazil would further strengthen trade cooperation in the fields of sorghum and wheat.

Chen Weiqiang, Deputy General Manager of BOC Futures, shared the application and practice of futures tools in the agricultural industry chain. He believes that the demand for risk management in the agricultural industry chain is increasing, and the application of futures tools in the agricultural industry chain will become more mature in the future, which will help promote the stability of the Chinese and global agricultural markets.

Liu Chang, Vice President of Cargill Greater China, introduced Cargill's global practical experience in agricultural service trade and its efforts to serve the development of the Chinese market and industrial technology upgrading and transformation.

Hu Bingchuan, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), provided an outlook on price trends in the international bulk agricultural market from three aspects: supply, demand and cooperation.

In the first panel discussion, Prof. Wang Jinxia, Director of China Center for Agricultural Policy Peking University, discussed with Cédric Prevost, Agricultural Counselor of French Embassy in China, Adam Branson, Senior Agricultural Commissioner of U.S. Embassy in China, Wang Jun, President of Founder Medium Term Futures Research Institute, Xie Wei, Deputy Director of China Agricultural Policy Center of Peking University, Peng Chao, Researcher of School of Management Cadre of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Tang Jianjun, Professor of Renmin University of China, on the hot issues of the reasons for the current international fluctuation of agricultural commodity price, its trends, impacts, and responses. Xie Wei, Deputy Director of China Agricultural Policy Center of Peking University, Peng Chao, Researcher of Management Cadre College of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Tang Jianjun, Professor of Renmin University of China, discussed and exchanged in-depth information on the trend of supply and demand of China's agricultural products in the context of the big agriculture view and the big food view, and the impacts of climate change on China's agricultural production and trade, and other issues.

In the second panel discussion session, Prof. Qiu Huanguang, Dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development of Renmin University of China, talked with Michelle Li, Agricultural Counselor of the Embassy of New Zealand in China, Manuel Sanchez, Director of the Beijing Office of the U.S. Grains Council, and Xu Qiang, General Manager of External Affairs of Bunge China, on the focus of the trends, challenges and opportunities of the global trade of agricultural commodities in bulk under the influence of multiple factors, Li Ting, researcher of the Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Zhang Xuebiao, researcher of the Institute of Information of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and discussed issues such as the persistently low international wheat prices, the international supply and demand situation of beef and mutton, and the fact that sustainable development has become a strategic focus for many multinational corporations.

Prof. Huang Jikun, President of New Rural Development Institute  Peking University, made a concluding speech of the Forum. He said that the Forum invited domestic and foreign government officials, experts and entrepreneurs in various fields to gather together to carry out in-depth discussions on many important issues in the field of agricultural markets and trade, and hoped that the relevant results of the Forum could have an impact on a wider scale and promote global food security and sustainable development of agriculture.