Take oil for instance. China has asked its state oil companies to add eight million tonnes, or nearly 60 million barrels, of crude oil to the country’s emergency stockpiles to boost supply security, according to analytics company Vortexa and trading sources.
If completed, the stockpiling would be one of the country’s largest in recent years, Reuters reported.
Beijing also has eyes on cobalt, a key electric car battery metal. An estimate from specialist trading house Darton Commodities says it expects China to own or operate as much as 60 per cent of global cobalt supply by 2025.
Reuters and Bloomberg cited sources saying that China could buy around 15,000 tonnes of cobalt from local Chinese producers over the next few months for domestic stockpiles.
Stockpiles of copper and iron ore – both of which China imports heavily – have also been growing.
For copper, inventories registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to a 51-month high of 339,964 tonnes, in the week to June 7.
Meanwhile, China imported 1.18 billion tonnes of iron ore last year, a record high, Reuters reported citing customs data.
As for grain, state-owned agricultural stockpiler Sinograin said in an early June notice that it and its affiliated units will increase purchases of wheat produced this year from major regions for its reserves.
Most analysts CNA spoke with believe there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Beijing has stepped up stockpiling as of late, but they agree it is hard to pinpoint just exactly how much.
At the same time, they caution that stockpiling is not unique to China, nor is the country a stranger to stockpiling. “All prudent countries stockpile essential resources to ensure national security and economic stability,” noted Mr Mok.
In terms of stockpiling, China has a higher definition of what is considered to be a safety minimum, Mr Han-Shen Lin, senior adviser and China country director of The Asia Group, told CNA, adding: “(This) can be seen as alarming to other nations”.
Indeed, the warning signal flashed in June during a hearing by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), titled “China’s Stockpiling and Mobilization Measures for Competition and Conflict”.
The commission monitors and investigates the national security implications of the trade and economic relationship between the US and China, as stated on its website.
During the roughly five-and-a-half-hour session, USCC members heard from a panel of experts who provided their perspectives on China’s preparations for conflict, with some suggesting the stockpiling activities could indicate an imminent invasion of Taiwan.
