China’s next five-year plan beginning in 2021 will call for increases to its mammoth state reserves of crude, strategic metals and farm goods, said officials familiar with the discussions. Beijing is keen to heed the lessons of the coronavirus crisis and deteriorating relations with the U.S. and its allies, according to the officials, who participated in the drafting of the plan. That means ensuring the nation’s secretive stockpiles, almost certainly among the world’s largest, are plentiful enough to withstand supply disruptions that could cripple its economy, the officials said, asking not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.
China’s top leadership will next month lay out its strategy for 2021-2025 that will include ramping up domestic consumption and making more critical technology at home, in a bid to insulate the world’s second-biggest economy from worsening geopolitical tensions and fraying supply chains. Securing food supplies, fuel and materials is a precondition of greater self-reliance for the world’s biggest importer of commodities.
A fax seeking comment from the National Development and Reform Commission wasn’t answered. The NDRC is the nation’s top economic planning agency and oversees the reserves administration.
Earlier this year, the agency bought cheap oil after the market’s epic crash. And in years past, it has purchased metals like copper to shore up domestic producers in times of stress. Such is China’s heft in commodities markets, prices can rise significantly on just rumors that the state stockpiler might be a buyer.