China-Ukraine: no massive farm deal… yet | beyondbrics

China-Ukraine: no massive farm deal… yet | beyondbrics:

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Contrary to a flurry of Monday news reports, China has not inked a massive agriculture investment giving it ownership of some 5 per cent of land in Ukraine, itself home to some of the world’s richest soil. As reported, it would have handed China a chunk of Ukrainian land the size of Belgium.

Yet it’s only a matter of time before China, with its surging population and consumption, completes a major farming deal in Ukraine. Just not this one.

Reuters reported on Sunday that China, through its Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, had an agreement with Ukraine’s KSG Agro to purchase an immediate 100,000 hectares of farming land, eventually increasing its presence in Ukraine’s agriculture sector to a whopping 3m ha. The report cited a news story in the South China Morning Post.

Afterwards, reports about the alleged deal spread across the internet like wildfire, claiming that China had sealed its single largest overseas farming operation, and is to become the largest farmer on some of the world’s richest land – the so-called “breadbasket of Europe.”"

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