U.S. cotton producers are facing some of their lowest prices in decades, primarily due to the subsidy policies of the People’s Republic of China, which have created a surplus of more than 50 million bales in the country’s warehouses.

But it turns out cotton farmers are not the only ones who have suffered from China’s subsidies and those of other advanced developing countries. Wheat farmers in the U.S. and other exporting countries are also seeing losses due to those policies.

In 2015, an Iowa State University study sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates showed China's excessive wheat subsidies alone were costing U.S. farmers almost $550 million per year. One year later, a January 2016 update of the study demonstrated the decline in world prices has increased U.S. wheat farm revenue losses from China's policies by 16 percent to $653 million.

“Considering all the trade distorting policies U.S. farmers face in the world, the wheat subsidies in China and in other developing countries have the most serious effect on farm gate prices and trade flows," said USW President Alan Tracy.

A 2014 study by DTB Associates showed China effectively pays its farmers a minimum procurement price of more than $10 per bushel for wheat and subsidizes input costs. In wheat alone, China provides an aggregate measure of support of at least $15.4 billion or 36 percent of the value of production, which far exceed the 8.5 percent de minimis limit set when it joined the WTO.

Import quotas not filled

China also agreed to allow wheat imports at a 1 percent tariff rate, up to a quota of 9.64 million metric tons. The out-of-quota tariff rate is 65 percent. China rarely administers this tariff rate quota as agreed and imports invariably fall far below the quota, even when its domestic prices are far above world market prices.

“We have seen prices collapse to unsustainable levels in just a few seasons, partially as a result of some of our trading partners not playing by the rules,” said National Association of Wheat Growers President Gordon Stoner, a wheat grower from Outlook, Mont.

“The decline in income of every wheat farmer in the United States will accelerate if China’s policies are not brought back into compliance with the commitments China’s government made to its trading partners.”

The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that China's noncompliant domestic subsidies and TRQ administration create artificial incentives for its farmers to grow even more wheat at a time when China already controls almost 40 percent of world wheat stocks, Stoner said. In turn, the policies suppress wheat import demand in China and put additional downward pressure on world wheat prices.

Dermot Hayes, Iowa State University agricultural economist, conducted the 2015 study and the latest update. He said the results confirm that removing China's domestic wheat support would have significant benefits for farmers in wheat exporting countries.

China farmers would grow less

The study used a proven econometric method to determine a world wheat “base case” including China's current wheat input subsidies and price support. Researchers then removed the factors represented by China's policies, ran the model again and compared the resulting scenario to the base case.

Dr. Hayes said the results showed Chinese farmers over time would grow less wheat because domestic prices would fall and input costs would increase.

“In our comparison, China would need to increase its imports to more than 9.6 million metric tons per year, a volume that is about equal to the Chinese wheat tariff rate quota" said Dr. Hayes. “That would increase wheat exports and farm revenue in the United States, as well as in Europe, Canada and Australia. In the United States specifically, farm income from wheat would increase by $0.19 per bushel compared to the base scenario.”

“NAWG supports free trade and supports Congressional ratification of TPP," said Stoner. “But trade agreements cannot meet their promise if other countries ignore the rules. It is time for the administration to seek enforcement through the WTO.”

“Since these harmful policies are the acts of sovereign governments, our farmer organizations cannot battle them alone," said Tracy. "At the direction of the USW and NAWG boards, we are working with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA to develop a possible WTO challenge.”