Commodities
China’s Masses No Longer a Money-Spinner as Grain Hunger Fades
- Shipments of French barley and US corn to nation have plunged
- Consumers cut back on meat, eating out on economic slowdown
A farmer moves rye grain stores on a farm in Poland.
Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Warehouses across China are bulging with grain as a deepening economic crisis takes hold, leaving the world’s farmers to grapple with the prospect of a long-lasting slowdown gripping one of their largest customers.
The strain across global markets is already showing. French barley exports to China have been tumbling and the US has yet to sell a full corn cargo for the new season. Wheat farmers in Australia are likely to be nervous as they prepare to start harvesting their new crop over the coming weeks.