Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corp (fka KWBT)

[hugh_jackoman]

Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/interconnected-markets-folder/chinas-environment/report.pdf

China’s worst pollution problem is in its soil, not its air

– Soil pollution is impacting China’s food security

Public concern about pollution seems primarily focused on air and water pollution, and this is not surprising given the relatively easier access to information on air and water quality. However, China’s worst pollution problem is in its soil, not its air. China’s soil pollution has been significantly underestimated despite its much broader and more complex impacts on daily life such as the safety of groundwater and heavy metal contamination of agricultural production. More importantly, air pollution can be reduced by simply cutting toxic emissions, while reducing soil pollution requires curbs on pollution as well as a treatment process, which takes more time and demands more investment.

However, there is relatively lower awareness of soil pollution among policymakers and the public. For example, the 12th Five-Year Plan only set aside US$4.8 bn to address soil pollution, which is a fraction of the US$277 bn the State Council allocated to alleviate air pollution in 2013-17.
China had no official statistics on soil pollution until April 2014 when part of the results of a national soil pollution survey was released for the first time.

That survey, which was conducted by the MEP and the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) and carried out in 2005-2013, found that 16% of China’s soil was polluted beyond acceptable standards, and 19.4% of China’s total arable land (65mn out of 334mn acres) was badly contaminated by heavy metals. As the government estimates 300mn acres of arable land is needed to maintain the nation’s food security, declaring the 65mn acres of polluted land unfit for food production would push China’s total arable land 31mn acres (10% of its total arable land) short of its self-defined “red line” of 300mn acres.

Severe soil and water pollution have had a profound impact on China’s food supply and safety. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) estimates that heavy metal contamination affects 12mn tons of grain in China every year, which is enough to feed 24mn people, equal to the population of Australia. In 2013, the discovery of rice tainted with cadmium in Guangdong and Hunan triggered panic buying of Thai rice.

The rising pollution of China’s arable land and increased land erosion has driven China to become a major food importer, especially for grain. In only seven years (2008-2014), China’s annual grain imports more than doubled from 41.3mt to 100.4mt, accounting for 17% of China’s domestic grain output. More worryingly, China’s grain self-sufficiency declined from 93% in 2008 to 86% in 2014, despite the fact that the number of annual new births was largely stable during the same period.