Russia promised China Ukrainian wheat for support of the war
On February 4, 2022, before the start of the war, Russia and China
signed bilateral agreements allowing the export of wheat and barley
to the PRC from all over Russia, as well as allowing the supply of
alfalfa. The relevant documents were adopted during the visit of
Russian President Vladimir Putin to China and negotiations with
Chinese President Xi Jinping (
https://bit.ly/3tCjwXl). According
to experts, this document was the reason for China's support for the
start of a military operation against Ukraine. Why?
The largest recipient of "hidden" (
https://bit.ly/3vNssM7) loans from
China for 2000-2017 was Russia - $125 billion. Loans were received
mainly by state-owned oil and gas companies on terms close to market
terms and against future oil and gas supplies. This is stated in the
report of the American research laboratory AidData, dedicated to
the PRC program to finance projects abroad.
The condition of China's winter wheat crop could be the "worst in
history", the agriculture minister said on 5 march 2022, raising
concerns about grain supplies in the world's biggest wheat consumer
(
https://reut.rs/35S2YSR). Speaking to reporters on the sidelines
of the country's annual parliament meeting, Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian said that rare heavy rainfall last
year delayed the planting of about one-third of the normal wheat
acreage.
A survey of the winter wheat crop taken before the start of winter
found that the amount of first- and second-grade crop was down
by more than 20 percentage points, Tang said. "Not long ago we
went to the grassroots to do a survey and many farming experts and
technicians told us that crop conditions this year could be the
worst in history," he said. "This year's grain production indeed
faces huge difficulties."
Let me remind you that Putin planned to capture Ukraine in 5-6 days.
The reason for the war is now clear. China was probably Putin's
sponsor because it needs grain. As you know, Ukraine is the
breadbasket of Europe. Therefore, whoever controls Ukraine
controls the price of wheat.
