Can the Golden Year Be Far Behind?

“Once I gave a salmon to the chef of a famous Japanese restaurant in Beijing， he didn’t know what to do with a knife in his hand， let alone cooking，” Han Yang told the reporter， who is the director of the marketing department of Dalian Hoto Ecology Agriculture Co.， Ltd. Specialized in breeding and transporting rare fishes， Hoto has become a leading enterprise in this industry. Famous for achievements in areas of oil， tourism， shipping and real estate， Dalian Haichang Group Co.， Ltd expanded its business to high-end aquatic products in 2009 which is now known as Hoto.

As a leading enterprise in IT industry of China， Legend Holdings announced its modern agricultural business in 2010.

In March of 2012， the State Council released a document named “Opinions on supporting leading enterprises in the industrialization of agricultural sector”， in which it said China would push forward the construction of standardized production bases and use the clustering effect to promote development in the sector.

Are the above phenomena suggesting an upcoming golden period for the investment of China’s modern agriculture?

At the 4th China Agriculture Investment and Financing Fair held on September 27， experts from various areas， including the department of policies and laws， banks at home and broad， security companies and agricultural enterprises， came together in Beijing and had a profound discussion on the hot issue in the agricultural sector.

Huge consuming market

The vice president of Beijing Agricultural Investment Fund， Ma Tianjiao， shared the following data: 1 acre can feed 1.6 persons in 2010 in the whole world， but the amount of people is estimated to be 4 in 2050; the world population is forecasted to be 9.1 billion in 2050， up by 36%， which means nearly doubled food demands.

Zhang Hongyu， the Director of Department of Industrial Policies and Laws of China’s Ministry of Agriculture， said on the Fair， “China is facing a surging trade deficit in the foreign trade of agricultural products. The trade volume of the import and export of agricultural products was 155.7 billion RMB in 2011， in which 94.9 billion was from imports and 60.8 billion from exports.”

Different with the market limitation encountered by industrial products， agricultural products is facing a market dominated by the seller because of the certain degree of food shortage. From a long-term perspective， the future development has a tendency of high cost and high price because of modernization and industrialization. Therefore， it is of great opportunities and possibilities in such process. The huge consuming market attracts more and more people’s attention to agribusiness， no matter what industry they are previously in.

Insistent upgrading demands

Propelled by the problems such as food safety， the transformation and upgrade of agricultural enterprises are becoming more and more imperative under such circumstance.

“The fundamental operation mode of agricultural companies is autarkical small-scale farming， which makes it difficult to lay down uniform quality standards and implement them under effective supervision in every channel among 220 million peasants in China，” Ma Tianjiao said. To solve this problem， enterprises should have clear positioning of their core competence， so as to make profits in long-term and risky investment.

“More and more people are seeking quality， safety as well as taste，” which requires agricultural business to concentrate on the quality of product itself， as well as the improvement of added values， explained by James Campbell， the Head of Agribusiness of ANZ China. Ma Tianjiao also shared her opinions on this issue， “From annihilating poverty to being well fed， and then to eating safely， the upgrade of the agricultural products structure will be accelerated due to people’s increasing demands on quality and safety.”

What’s more， innovative business model and marketing channels are also worth noticing. Han Yang shared Hoto’s experiences on the Fair， “Besides technical support in producing and transporting， we have built unique distributional channels such as high-end gifts service， preservation and refrigeration equipments in collaborated restaurant， chefs training courses and so on.”

Supportive policies and reforms

The “Opinions” released by the State Council this year have pointed out obvious directions of the future development of agricultural enterprises， in which financing and listing are encouraged.

The financial reform is also trying to provide better and stronger support in the process of industrialization of agricultural companies. According to Mao Changqing， the chief analyst of Citic Securities， the agricultural sector will benefit from the financial reform in the following aspects. First， direct loans from rural banks are helpful to expand the business scale. Second， agricultural insurance will be put into practice in the near future. Third， agricultural commodity futures like eggs and pork will effectively help to control risks brought by periodic fluctuation of prices. Fourth， more and more investment banks are endeavoring to build professional team on the area of agribusiness.

Opportunities in the sluggish economy

Yang Yi， the manager of COFCO Agricultural Industrial Investment Fund Management Co.， Ltd.， said， “Though the economic downturn in the U.S. led to the depression of many sectors， the retail industry was not adversely influenced as a matter of fact， because people felt so down that the consumption of beer surged greatly.”

Presently， a lot of hot money has flowed into China’s agricultural industry due to the infinite opportunities and potentials in the future development. Investors are making efforts to add more values to the traditional agricultural products， in the meanwhile， the attempt to combine modern business model like e-commerce and the traditional agricultural industry has never ceased. The demands of safe and high-quality food of people have put great pressure on the transformation of agricultural enterprises， which at the same time have also provided chances to be innovative and original.

Just as Mao Changqing said， in his point of view， China’s agriculture had gone into the accelerating period of modernization since 2005， and would embrace a golden period for investment in the next ten to fifteen years.