China's Shifting Consumer Habits May Help Protect the Amazon

A shift in Chinese consumer eating habits is starting to alter the agricultural equation in Latin America. As China's middle class moves toward healthier diets, eating less pork and more fish and plant-based products, demand for soy, the dominant input for animal feed, could ease.

Brazil is the leading soy supplier to China. In past years, surging Chinese demand played a major role in pushing soy farms outward into the Amazon rainforest. A drop in Chinese meat imports would reduce the pressure for new soy fields to be carved out of forested land.

International environmental groups are monitoring the shift closely. Although the Brazilian government has tightened protections against deforestation, an El Niño-driven rise in fires is threatening progress. The change in Chinese consumer behavior could also reshape the composition of Brazil's farm exports.