Chinese Investment in the European Agricultural Infrastructure

Europe’s food sector infrastructure—which includes agricultural land, food production, processing companies, food safety, agri-transport, logistics, and agri-research and development—has become interconnected since the development of the single market. As a result, food production in Europe has now developed into a transcontinental system. Under a wider policy of Chinese outward FDI by means of the Go Global policy, Chinese companies are increasing their investments in the foreign agri-food sector. Chinese firms are increasingly acquiring agri-food companies in Europe. This is part of a broader state policy to increase Chinese food security. These concepts are analyzed using a governance approach. China is not a unitary actor investing in Europe’s food sector infrastructure. Rather, the investment pattern differs between Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies. The aim of this article is to understand why China continues to invest in European agricultural infrastructure despite growing tensions. The article argues that knowledge transfer from the EU agri-food sector allows China to meet its national objective of upgrading the Chinese food system.