We also offer products with more whole grains, such as our Triscuit crackers here in the U.S. and the first whole grain biscuits in China.

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Moreover, most of the decline in coarse-grain stocks has come in China.

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In response to local concerns about the loss of critical food supplies, several governments have imposed taxes or other restrictions on exports: on a key ingredient of fertiliser in China, on grain in Argentina, on rice in India.

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He suggests that farmers trying to grow thirsty grain in dry northern and western parts of China should be persuaded to change their crops.

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After peaking at 392 million tonnes in 1998, China's grain harvests have fallen to 350 million tonnes a year since then.

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Greater meat consumption by the newly rich in China and other developing countries is also fuelling demand for grain, because livestock consume large quantities of feed.

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Grain traders expect China to buy about a third of all the soybeans harvested in the U.S. last fall.

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Despite bumper harvests in recent years, officials and experts warn that China's grain security still faces potential risks as over 35m metric tonnes of grain are wasted each year from poor storage and transportation, Global Times and China Daily report.

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As for the western states' mineral and farm exports, they will surely grow over time as less developed Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia increasingly industrialise and switch to more meat and grain in their diets.

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