China's Growth, World Food Prices, and Developing Countries Exports

This paper explores the impacts of China's growth in the international markets of agricultural products. These impacts are important because they are related to two different ongoing discussions about the role of China in the world economy. One of these discussions have to do with China as a source of price inflation while the other has to do with China as an engine of growth for developing countries, in this case, through increased export opportunities. Our results suggest that China has been a source of aggregated mild price inflation in the largest developed economies that occupy the first ranks as food importers. This is probably related to a more intense pressure on world food supplies. When we look at the counterfactual exports of selected exporters, we find that few countries in Latin America (Brazil, Peru), and in Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia), have benefited from China's increased food demand.