China’s Protein Gap Will Stoke Global Inflation

“China is going on an Atkins diet just when global food security is perceived to be facing a threat from ethanol”

The “tortilla crisis” that shook Mexico in January may not have been a flash in the pan.

If Jing Ulrich, the Hong Kong-based chairwoman of China equities at JPMorgan Chase & Co., is correct, everything from beer to steak might just become more expensive globally.


Ulrich’s case is built around a statistic and an observation: It takes 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of grain to produce 1 kilo of beef; and “Chinese people are eating more meat as consumer wealth increases,” she says.

If China’s export-driven growth is deflationary for the world, its hunger for a protein-rich diet combined with an inability to produce it at home may prove to be inflationary.

Bloomberg