China's financialized soybeans: The fault lines of neomercantilism narratives in international food regime analyses

Fares, Tomaz Mefano

Abstract

Neomercantilism is commonly portrayed as a central mechanism of China's global agribusiness engagement. It implies reordering the international food regime by moving away from financial and trade liberalization and securing stable import supplies and price controls under state support. However, this article raises an alternative interpretation through an empirical‐rich investigation of the prominence of the state‐owned China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) in the soybean commodity chain. The article draws upon analyses of the Chinese state and international food regime to demonstrate that recent changes in state‐capital relations during the Xi Jinping administration propelled forms of capital accumulation based on financial speculation and shareholder values. I conclude that state‐driven internationalization has placed Chinese agribusiness in an advantageous position within global finance rather than challenging it through agrarian neomercantilist strategies.

Citation

Fares, T. M. (2023). China's financialized soybeans: The fault lines of neomercantilism narratives in international food regime analyses. Journal of Agrarian Change, 23(3), 477-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12536

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 16, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 15, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Mar 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 20, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Agrarian Change
• Print ISSN: 1471-0358
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-0366
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 477-499
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12536
• Keywords: China, COFCO, food regime, neomercantilism, soybean
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joac.12536