ECONOMIC - AGRICULTURE, OIL SEEDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210185-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2002
• Sequence Number: 185
• Publication Date: March 14, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/08/06 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210185-9
CLASSIFICATS( RESTRICTED
ITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Economic - Agriculture, oil seeds
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers, weekly periodical, and
WHERE yearbook
PUBLISHED China; Hong Kong
DATE
PUBLISHED 7 Dec 1949 - 29 Dec 1952
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REPORT NO.
CO NO.
DATE OF
25X1A
DATE D(ST. 14 Mar 1953
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
Newspapers and periodioaland yearbook sa indicated.
SURITEY OF OIL SEED PRODUCTION IN CHINA, 1949 - 1952
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended sources.]
This report on oil seed production in China, for the period 1949 - 102,
presents information from Chinese-language publications. Most of the informa-
tion was taken from Chinese Communist newspapers, periodicals and the 1952
yearbook published on the mainland. Some information was taken from Hong Kong
newspapers. The chief oil-bearing agricultural crops of China are eoyoeans, pea-
nuts, cottonseed, rapeseed, castor beans, hempseed, sesame seed, flaxseed and
tea.
The chief oil-producing food crop in China is the soybean, Soybeans are
raised in almost all parts of the country, but chiefly in the Northeast and in
North and Central China.
Soybean production in China in 1949 was 34 percent of the highest crop on
record. For 1951 it was 62 percent and for 1951, 72 percent.(1) he average
production for 1931 through 1937 is usually used as a norm for prewar production
in China proper and 1943 an the highest year for production in the NorUipastj
Soybean production in the Northeast for 1950 amounted to 3,010,000 tons ns of
9 November that year.(2) As of September 1950, it was estimated that soybean
production in Honan in 1950 would reach 33 1/3 percent above that for 1(;49.(3)
A 1951 report gives 1,760,000,000 catties as the annual soybean production
for Central-South China and 1,100,000,000 cattier for the annual prouuction in
Honan.(4) An indication of the importance of the soybean in China's export trea_
is shown by the report thn t..??.yp n c. ntra:; i.C ti !or the purchase of 600,000 tons to
be supplied from the Northeast in 1950.(5) It wan also reported that the North-
East authorities were planning to export 700,000 tons of soybeans to the USSR
between December 1949 and ?larch 1951.(6)
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The 1952 soybean production for Heilungkiang Province on over 600,000 mou
fne mou equals 1/6 acre? is reported from various areas as from 100 percent to
sever hundred percent over the highest previous figure.(7)
Peanuts
Shantung is the chief peanut-producing province in China. The peanut crop
in that province in 1950 was reported as 800 million shin-chin Zone ship chin
equals 1.1 pound7.(8) The annual export capacity of the province was reported
in 1950 at 100,000 tons.(9)
Cottonseed
Cotton production in China in 1949 was 52 percent of the highest annual pro-
duction on record; in 1950, 84 percent; and in 1951, 133 percent.(1) A 1950 report
gives 17 million piculs Zone picul equals 133 pounds] a: the highest prewar pro-
ductio:. figure.(3) Total cotton production in China in 1950 was reported to be
14,219,000 piculs.(l0)
The Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government
set the 1951 cotton production goal at 136.9 percent of 1950 production or ap-
proximately 19 million piculs.(11) In a press release the Minister of Agriculture
of Communist _.Una stated that the cotton crop of China for 1952 would approxi-
mate 300 percent of the 1949 production.(12) One report made in September 1950
placed 1949 production at 8.5 million piculs.(3)
Per-unit-of-area cotton production for 1952 is generally reported to aver-
age from 10 to 20 percent better than for 1951. Yields of 200 catties per mou
of unginned cotton are reported quite general in Hopeh. Yields of 300 catties
per mou on irrigated land and 250 catties per mou on nonirrigated land are re-
ported from large areas in Shansi. Most of the Northwest reports gains up to
20 percent over 1951. The Northeast suffered some loss from red spiders. In
September 1952, East China reported generally bumper crops except for some ty-
phoon damage along the coasts of Kiangsu and Chekiang. Except for Hupeh where
drought caused losses, all cotton producing areas of Central and South China re-
ported high production. The Southwest also reported generally high production.(13)
No production figures for tung oil were found in the material surveyed.
However, the following data on the export of tung oil were found: Exports to
Hong Kong in June 1950 amounted to 65,451 piculs. (14) Exports for July amounted
to 92,451 piculs. Shipments from Chungking, an important collection point for
Southwest China, were 1,657.5 tons and 3,315 tons, respectively, for April and
May 1950.(15' Exports of tung oil for September and December 1952, totaled from
weekly reports, amounted to~ 4,015 drums (plus 578 tons) and 792 drums (plus 360
tons), respectively. (16) LA drum usually contains 50 gallons .7
Figures for rapeseed production were not. found in the papers surveyed for
this report. Reports of ra~- eed oil exports to Hong Kong for September and De-
cember 1952 show 352 drums and 90 tons for September and 1,530 tons for December.(17)
No figures for tea r~oduction were found in the newtP'i erc cnd p .ludicals
surveyed for tt,+s rcpart. The Lea oil exported to Hong Kong in September 1952
amounted to 595 drums and 30 tons.(17)
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RESTRICM
Sesame Oil
No figures for sesame seed production in the material surveyed for this
report.
Castor Beans, Hempseed and Flaxseed
No data for the above items were observed in the material for this report.
SOURCES
1. Shanghai, Jen-min Shou-tsle, 1952 Edition, 1 Jul 1952
2. Mukden, Tung-pei Jih-pao, 9 Nov ~0
3. Shanghai, Ching-chi Chou-pao, Vol Xl, No 13, 28 Sep 50
4. Hankaw, Chang-chiang Jih-pao, 3 Mar 51
5. Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao, 7 Dec 49
6. Hong Kong, Kung-shang Jih-pao, 8 Feb 1950
7. Canton, Nan-fang Jih-pao, 28 Sep 52
8. Shanghai, Ta Kung Pao, 9 Nov 50
9. Hong Kong, Wen-hui Pao, 29 Mar 50
10. Peiping, Jer_-min Jih-pao, 27 Oct 50
11. Ibid., 20 Oct 50
12. Yang-chou, Su-pei Jih-pao, 26 Sep 52
13. Pao-ting, Hopeh Jih-pao, 18 Sep 52
14. Hong Kong, Wen-hui Pao, 13 Jul 50
15. Ibid., 8 Sep 50
16. Hong Kong, Hsing-tan Jih-pao, 7, 14, 21, 28 Sep and 7, 14, 21, 29 Dec 52
17. Hong Kong, Hsing-tao Jih-pao, 21, 28 Sep 52
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