A Global Interpretation of the Rise of the East Asian Food Import Complex

The last quarter century explosion of consumer affluence in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, accompanied a new phase in the organization of the global food economy. It also conditioned the increasingly speculative capital investments in the region. This paper argues that the restructuring of p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 2000-03, Vol.28 (3), p.409-424
Main Author: McMichael, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agrarian reform
Agricultural policy
Agriculture
agro-export
Asia, East
consumer affluence
Consumer spending
Consumers
Consumption
East Asia
Food
Food consumption
food import complex
Food industry
food regime
Food supply
Free trade
Global economy
Globalism
Imports
Income
Liberalism
Liberalization
Southeast Asia
Studies
Wealth
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Summary:The last quarter century explosion of consumer affluence in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, accompanied a new phase in the organization of the global food economy. It also conditioned the increasingly speculative capital investments in the region. This paper argues that the restructuring of production and consumption relations involved a movement away from the US-centered bilateral food surplus regime, and toward a multilateral food regime based in WTO-led agricultural liberalization, and the corporate restructuring of agriculture. The East Asian food import complex advances the neoliberal project of global free trade, spawning agro-export zones throughout Southeast Asia.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00136-9