The Political Economy of Agro-Food Markets in China: The Social Construction of the Markets in an Era of Globalization

342 Pages·2014·3.37 MB·English

by  Louis Augustin-Jean

After thirty years of reforms and continuous economic growth, China’s
agricultural production and food consumption have increased tremen-
dously, leading to a complete evolution of agro-food markets. This
study uses a path dependency approach to analyze the development of
these markets, the structure of which remains relatively unknown. The
authors use agro-food industries in China to describe the organization
of agricultural markets in China and its implication for local people as
well as for her integration into the world economy.
The book is divided into two parts: the first part reviews the theoretical
framework for the ‘social construction of the markets’, while the second
part presents the implication for the agro-food markets in China.
Also by Louis Augustin-Jean
ASIAN ECONOMIC DYNAMISM IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION (co-editor)
HONG KONG: Economie, Société, Culture (co-editor)
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL
TRADE: The Challenge for Asia (co-editor)
Also by Björn Alpermann
DER STAAT IM DORF: Dörfliche Selbstverwaltung in China
THE CHINESE COTTON INDUSTRY: Economic Transformation and State
Capacity
POLITICS AND MARKETS IN RURAL CHINA (editor)
The Political Economy of
Agro-Food Markets in China
The Social Construction of the Markets in
an Era of Globalization
Edited by
Louis Augustin-Jean
Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Björn Alpermann
Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Würzburg, Germany
Editorial matter, introduction and selection © Louis Augustin-Jean and Björn
Alpermann 2014
Individual chapters © Contributors 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-27794-7
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-44747-3 ISBN 978-1-137-27795-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137277954
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Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
Notes on Contributors x
List of Abbreviations xiv
Introduction: Agro-Food Markets in China in
Light of Economic Sociology 1
Louis Augustin-Jean and Björn Alpermann
Part I The Theoretical Foundations of Agro-Food
Markets
1 Markets as Political Institutions 27
Andy Smith
2 An Approach to Food Quality in China:
An Agenda for Future Research 47
Louis Augustin-Jean
Part II From Producers to Consumers: The Market for
Food Products
3 Post-Reform Grain Markets and Prices in China 77
Gregory Veeck
4 China’s Sugar under Globalization Forces:
Market Structures and State Decision Making
in the Context of Liberalization 103
Louis Augustin-Jean
5 A Diachronic Analysis of the Beef Industry 127
Colin G. Brown, Scott A. Waldron and John W. Longworth
6 Understanding the Growth and the Decline of
Small-Farm Production in the Swine Industry of
Guangdong Province and in China from
1980 to 2010 152
Véronique Chin
v
vi Contents
Part III From Farm to Factory: Fibres and Biofuels
7 China’s Cotton Market as a Strategic Action Field 183
Björn Alpermann
8 Drivers and Dynamics of the Chinese Wool Market 210
Colin G. Brown, Scott A. Waldron and John W. Longworth
9 Development of Contract Farming in Chinese Sericulture
and the Silk Industry 236
Hui Ni and Shuji Hisano
10 Growth, Globalization and Upgrading of the Chinese
Cashmere Industry 257
Scott A. Waldron, Colin G. Brown, and Adam M. Komarek
11 Fuels for the Future? The Emerging Architecture in China’s
Liquid Biofuels Market 279
Jørgen Delman and Yu Wang
Conclusion: Economic Sociology and the Political Economy
of China’s Agro-Food Markets 307
Björn Alpermann and Louis Augustin-Jean
Index 321
List of Tables
3.1 P earson’s product-moment correlation analyses comparing
provincial mean prices for rice, wheat, and corn by year
with provincial mean yields by year 93
3.2 P earson’s product-moment correlation analyses comparing
provincial mean prices for rice, wheat, and corn lagged one
year with provincial mean yields for following year 93
3.3 M oran’s I values for provincial crop prices, 2003–2010 97
5.1 Chinese beef and cattle industry statistics – 1980, 1990,
2000, and 2010 130
6.1 F eeds used in a typical forage-based ‘peasant’ pig farm,
Guangdong, 1998 162
6.2 C ompared feed costs of four pig-production systems,
Guangdong, 1998 165
6.3 C ompared costs and incomes per pig in four
pig- production systems, Guangdong, 1998 166
6.4 C ompared costs per unit of output in four pig-production
systems, Guangdong, 1998 166
6.5 C ompared incomes and returns to labour of four
pig farms, January 1998’s prices 167
6.6 C ereal consumption of China’s swine industry: An
estimate for 1999 171
6.7 E stimates for feed use in the Guangdong province swine
industry, 1998–1999 172
8.1 Relative wool grade price differentials 229
11.1 Changes in the biofuels tax regime 288
11.2 Total subsidies for ethanol development in China,
2002–2007 288
11.3 Estimated feedstocks used for bioethanol in China, 2007 290
11.4 Licensed bioethanol plants in China 292
vii
List of Figures
1.1 An industry as an institutional order of four instituted
relationships 29
3.1 Gross production and yields for selected grains for China,
1978–2010 82
3.2 Changes in mean annual prices for selected grains in
China, 1978–2011 84
3.3 Percentage of domestic grain consumption in China
derived from imports, 1978–2010 86
3.4 Percentage change in mean rice (all types) yields by
province for China, 1978–2010 90
3.5 Percentage change in mean wheat yields by province for
China, 1978–2010 90
3.6 Percentage change in mean corn yields by province for
China, 1978–2010 91
5.1 Beef and cattle attributes influencing markets 129
6.1 China’s swine production, 1998–2010 157
7.1 China’s cotton sown area and output, 1978–2010 187
7.2 China’s share in world cotton imports, 2000–2012 193
8.1 Chinese wool supply chains 211
8.2 Timeline of wool industry reforms 216
8.3 Forces influencing the wool market 221
8.4 Wool by type and mutton production, 1981–2010 228
8.5 Changes in selected ruminant livestock and agricultural
prices, 2001–2008 230
9.1 The commodity chain and structure of sericulture shift
in China 239
9.2 How the farmer’s cash income is changing 240
9.3 Cocoon output and price 241
9.4 Sericulture in Jiangsu 244
9.5 Sericulture structure of Xinyuan company 246
viii
List of Figures ix
9.6 Sericulture development in Guangxi 248
9.7 Sericulture structure in Guangxi 250
10.1 EU imports of cashmere and cashmere products from
China, 2002–2010 261
10.2 Goat and cashmere production in pastoral and
semi-pastoral counties in China 266
11.1 Liquid biofuels production (1.000 t.) 282
11.2 Comparison of changing targets and actual capacity of
bioethanol and biodiesel 283