When China Burps, the World Shakes
These corrections to previously shared incredible (and incorrect) data still border the incredible:
- If all Chinese adults drink three beers in a year, the needed amount
of grain to produce this is 1,080 thousand tons of grain, which is
equal to the total Norwegian grain-production.
- In 1994 China had a surplus of 8 millions ton of grain,
in 1995 China had a shortage of 16 millions ton of grain,
this shift of 24 millions ton is equal to the total grain-export of
Canada.
reference : Milieupublicist Lester Brown voorziet toenemende voedseltekorten
in de hele wereld. (Environmental-publisher Lester Brown foresees
increasing food-shortages in the whole world). In the Dutch
newspaper 'De Volkskrant' 3-february-1996.
Another point Lester Brown describes is that China's food-demand is
rising, but because of their growing economy they can fulfill the rising
grain-prices but will become more dependent on the US (who export almost
50 percent of the total world grain-export). The problem however will be
resulting increase of grain-prices, because the poor people in the mega-cities
in development countries already have to spend 70 percent of their income on
food to be able to survive. Doubling the grain-prices will become live-
threatening for them, which means increasing political instability etc.