Eighth China Grain Trade Conference Closes in Hunan with 29.2 Million Tonnes in Deals

The eighth China Grain Trade Conference concluded recently in Hunan under the theme "Gathering Strength for Grain Security, Promoting Development through Production-Marketing Integration." Eighteen interprovincial strategic cooperation agreements, six government-enterprise strategic cooperation agreements, 12 enterprise strategic cooperation agreements, six consumption-assistance agreements and seven university talent cooperation agreements were signed on site. Through on-site arrangements and online special transactions on the national grain trading platform, a total of 29.2 million tonnes of grain and oil and 2,111 units of grain and oil machinery were sold or covered by letters of intent, with a total value of RMB 87.871 billion.

Hunan hosted the conference and showcased four provincial regional public brands: Dongting Fragrant Rice, Hunan Rapeseed Oil, Huxiang Coarse Grains and Hunan Rice Noodles. Hunan ranks first among all provinces in rice area and output and is a major national grain-producing region. In recent years, Hunan has advanced the development of grain production, storage, processing, a cluster of specialised grain machinery industries and a grain logistics network, with grain production rising steadily.

Grain circulation links production and consumption. During the exhibition, major producing regions including Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Liaoning promoted high-quality grain and oil products, while major sales regions and production-sales balance regions displayed their own distinctive products. As a major grain sales region, Guangdong used the slogan "Quality Guangdong Grain, Guangdong Flavour" to showcase distinctive grain and oil products such as Simiao rice, high-end special flour and quality rice noodles, as well as high-end grain and oil machinery, and organised participation in production-marketing matchmaking events in 20 provinces and regions. As a production-sales balance region, the Gansu exhibition area displayed Lanzhou beef noodles, Tianshui malatang, Dingxi wide noodles, highland quinoa, flaxseed oil and olive oil, among other distinctive grain, oil and agricultural products, and reached grain production-marketing cooperation agreements with 12 provinces.

The conference covered nearly 100,000 square metres, bringing together more than 3,100 exhibitors and over 20,000 participants, with 25 product promotion sessions and 105 hours of livestream selling. It also held a grain policy and market situation analysis meeting and events for project investment and investment promotion signing. Liu Huanxin, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said the grain production, purchase, storage, processing and sales system must be continuously improved so that quality grain and oil can be produced, transported smoothly and sold well, and so that grain development shifts from being output-led to placing equal emphasis on output and quality.

The conference featured a special international quality products exhibition area, with 12 countries presenting local specialty products and four industry associations attending. During the event, a meeting for exchanges between Chinese and Kazakh grain enterprises was held in Changsha, providing a platform for face-to-face communication between Chinese and Kazakh companies to smooth cross-border grain supply chains and deepen Belt and Road grain cooperation. Liu Huanxin noted that mutually beneficial cooperation is an inevitable choice for addressing global food security challenges, and that both domestic and international markets and resources should be used in a coordinated way to strengthen food security resilience through open cooperation.

Since its launch in 2018, the China Grain Trade Conference has continuously expanded in scale, enriched its content and innovated its formats, playing a role in promoting grain circulation, deepening production-marketing cooperation and supporting rural revitalisation. This year's conference has now concluded.