In 2005 the government banned the private trade in grain that had sprung up as an improvised response to the last famine.

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Within two decades, according to a U.S. government report drawing heavily on data from secret information sources, China could need 175 million tonnes of grain a year, more than the total world grain trade in 2001.

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The region stands astride the primary corridor for the Midwest grain trade and sits in the middle of the Gulf trade routes.

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