Chinese firms switch investment focus from mining to food sector

After spending the past decade and more than €150bn acquiring mines and oil fields from Australia to Argentina, China’s attention is turning to food.

Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong-listed firms spent €9bn abroad on takeovers and investments in food, drink or farming last year, the most in a decade.

Those purchases included the largest Chinese takeover of a US company when Shuanghui International Holdings bought Smithfield Foods for €5bn. They are likely to be followed by overseas forays into beef, sheep meat and grain assets, says the National Australia Bank.