I. Introduction
Before 1980s, China had been promoting heavy industrialization, and the government's trade policy thought basically relied on agricultural products and raw materials to earn foreign exchange to import materials needed for industrial construction (especially heavy industry and military industry). It was not until the implementation of reform and opening up that the guiding ideology of economic development policy was adjusted to improve people's living standards and focus on the development of infrastructure (such as energy, materials and transportation). ) has affected the sustainable development of the economy. Therefore, the proportion of China's agricultural products trade in foreign trade has been as high as 20% before 1990, but it has been declining since 1990, and it was less than 5% in 2004. In addition, in 2004, there was a deficit of 4.64 billion US dollars in agricultural trade. Since then, the proportion of agricultural products trade in foreign trade has become smaller and smaller, and the deficit has increased year by year, which has had a certain impact on China's economic development. The realistic problems of China's agricultural products have their own reasons and external economic effects from the international agricultural products market. Therefore, it is an urgent problem to change the current situation of agricultural trade in China.
Second, the current situation of agricultural products import and export in China
Since 2007, the international agricultural products market has undergone significant changes, especially the shortage of world grain supply and demand, the continuous decline of grain stocks and the overall continuous increase of grain prices.
1. Net exports of major cereals such as rice and wheat.
In recent years, the world grain market is tight in supply and demand, and some major grain exporting countries have taken some measures to restrict grain exports, further aggravating the tight situation of grain supply and demand. In this situation, China's major grain imports and exports still maintain a net export, especially rice, wheat and corn, which shows that the supply of major grain varieties in China is mainly domestic production, thus alleviating the trade pressure brought about by the tight supply and demand of world grain.
2. The import of soybean edible vegetable oil is huge.
Imports of soybeans and edible vegetable oils continued to increase, with soybean imports exceeding 30 million tons and edible vegetable oils importing 8.98 million tons. According to the data of the 2nd International Oils and Fats Congress, in 2006-2007, the import and consumption of soybean oil in China reached 2.4 million tons and 8.63 million tons respectively, ranking first in the world. China's imports of soybean oil, palm oil and rapeseed oil rank first in the world. The total import of these three edible vegetable oils accounts for 18% of global trade, of which soybean oil imports account for 24% of global soybean oil trade.
3. The import and export of agricultural products continued to grow rapidly.
Since 2007, the foreign trade of agricultural products in China has continued to grow. The export and import of agricultural products both increased for the eighth consecutive year, and the total import and export of agricultural products reached US$ 77.59 billion, an increase of 23. 1% over 2006, reaching a new record high.
4. The import and export deficit of agricultural products has obviously expanded.
In recent years, the foreign trade deficit of China's agricultural products has become the norm. In 2005 and 2006, the import and export deficit of agricultural products decreased, but in 2007, the import and export deficit of agricultural products increased significantly, reaching $4.35 billion. The trade deficit of agricultural products fluctuates and tends to increase, which not only reflects the problems of domestic resources and agricultural production, but also shows that it is more and more difficult for us to cope with the international situation and adjust it in time under the complicated and changeable world political and economic situation and international market.
5. The export of advantageous agricultural products continued to grow rapidly.
Fruits, vegetables and aquatic products are traditional agricultural products with comparative advantages in China. Although the foreign trade of livestock products is still a net import, livestock products are an important part of China's agricultural exports, with an export value of US$ 4.05 billion, accounting for 1 1.05% of China's total agricultural exports.
6. The prices of agricultural products in the international market have risen rapidly.
The rapid rise of agricultural product prices is an important feature of domestic and international market changes. In 2007, the price of wheat, soybean and corn in the international market rose by 1 12%, 75. 1% and 47.3% respectively. According to the Statistical Report on Import and Export of Agricultural Products in China published by the Ministry of Commerce, the year-on-year price index of agricultural products import (Paget's Index) in June 2007 was124.6+0-11,and the year-on-year price index of agricultural products export (Paget's Index) was 1.05.9.
Third, the countermeasures to improve China's agricultural trade
Under the pressure of RMB appreciation, the prices of agricultural products in China are also rising rapidly, which has affected the export of agricultural products to some extent. How to effectively prevent the trade deficit of agricultural products from being too large is still an arduous task for us. In order to solve the problems in China's agricultural products trade. The author puts forward the following suggestions:
1. Strengthen domestic support for agriculture and fundamentally improve China's agricultural competitiveness.
(1) Increase investment in the "green box policy". On the basis of the six green box measures currently used in China, such as general government services, food security reserve, domestic food aid, natural disaster relief, environmental protection plan and support for regional development, the following inputs are added: ① Strengthening investment in agricultural scientific research and popularization. Encourage agricultural producers (towns, villages and peasant families) to increase investment in scientific research, and guide participants in all aspects of agricultural industrialization to increase investment in scientific research. ② Increase investment in the construction of agricultural product quality and safety standard system. Develop advanced technology and equipment, accelerate the establishment of self-inspection system for agricultural products based on base processing and circulation at all levels, effectively control the whole process of agricultural products before, during and after delivery, completely ban the use of harmful feed additives with high toxicity and residue, and focus on three links: production base, processing enterprises and listing and trading.
(2) adjust the "yellow box policy" expenditure. For the "yellow box" policy, although our government has given some subsidies to farmers, it is far from enough. In the future, the following subsidies should be increased: ① Increase subsidies for agricultural inputs, especially seeds, realize regional unified variety planting, better meet market demand, and be conducive to achieving high quality and good price. (2) Increase subsidies for the construction of agricultural products marketing facilities, including subsidies for the processing, storage and transportation of agricultural products, especially subsidies for newly developed agricultural cooperative organizations. Drawing on the experience of many foreign countries, the state should subsidize these investments.
2. Actively carry out institutional innovation and cultivate agricultural business entities with market competitiveness.
EU market and Japanese market have always been the main export areas of China. At present, China's agricultural products must rely on scientific and technological progress to make high profits in the EU market and Japanese market. Facing the increasingly institutionalized technical barriers, technological innovation is particularly important. First of all, we should speed up the technological innovation of storage, processing, transportation and packaging of green agricultural products in China, so as to make up for the backwardness of agricultural products production, processing and storage technology and seriously affect the huge losses caused by agricultural products export every year. Secondly, we should increase investment in agricultural science and technology, strengthen agricultural technology reserves, vigorously develop high and new technologies, attach importance to the research on the basis, application and development of high-yield, high-quality and efficient agriculture, and improve the scientific and technological content of agricultural products, so as to change the backward and low-tech status of agricultural products as soon as possible and continuously improve the grade of agricultural products in China. At the same time, introduce the latest foreign environmental protection technology and green food processing technology, and actively strengthen international exchanges and cooperation: focus on strengthening the technological innovation of modern biotechnology, ecological technology, crop cultivation technology, breeding technology, pest monitoring and forecasting and integrated control technology in the production and application of green agricultural products.
3. Continue to play the role of export of agricultural products with comparative advantages, and actively implement export promotion policies for agricultural products.
Fruits, vegetables and aquatic products are traditional agricultural products with comparative advantages in China. We should continue to give full play to its comparative advantages and make improvements in all aspects of product processing and packaging. At the same time, give play to the role of government services. In view of the fact that the promotion of agricultural products trade in China started late, the infrastructure was seriously insufficient and the promotion means were weak, the field reform was carried out. The government does not need to directly participate in the specific affairs of operation and management and market circulation, but should formulate laws and policies to promote the export trade of such agricultural products, provide information services, do a good job in infrastructure construction, establish import and export early warning and defense mechanisms, adjust the domestic agricultural support system, study and formulate measures to deal with non-tariff barriers, establish and improve the agricultural standardization system, and promote the development of agricultural science and technology. Cancel the quantitative restrictions and unified management of the export of bulk agricultural products, encourage all enterprises with foreign trade management rights to participate in the foreign trade management of agricultural products, and extensively carry out various forms of publicity and promotion activities to enhance the competitiveness of China's agricultural products in the international market.
Current Situation and Problems of Agricultural Products Export in China
1. Status quo
In 2000, China's agricultural exports reached a record high, reaching199.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 15% over the previous year. The proportion of China's total agricultural exports to the total national exports has been decreasing year by year, from 9.9% in 1995 to 6.3% in 2000. However, the trade in agricultural products has maintained a trade surplus.
By July of 20001year, the export of agricultural products in China had a negative growth, with the export value of 8.85 billion US dollars, down 0.77% year-on-year.
At present, the export structure of agricultural products has begun to change, the export of grain and cotton has declined, the export situation of aquatic products, vegetables and other agricultural products is better, and the export of livestock products and edible oil has not changed much.
By geographical analysis, exports to Asia, Africa, Latin America and South America decreased, exports to Europe and Oceania increased substantially, and exports to North America increased slightly.
From 200 1 to1-July, China's largest export consumer countries (regions) and their market share are: Japanese 36%, Hongkong 12%, Korean 10%, American 7%, German 3% and so on.
From 200 1 to1-July, the export trade of agricultural products in eastern China showed an increasing trend, with the export volume increasing by 2.5%, accounting for 79% of China's total agricultural exports. Due to the lack of competitiveness, the export of products in the central and western regions declined rapidly, with the declines of 10.8% and 13.3% respectively.
Shandong is the largest exporter of agricultural products in China. In the first half of the year, the import and export situation was very good, and the export volume increased by 23%. Guangdong is the second largest export province, with the export volume falling by 5%. The third place is Zhejiang Growth 1.6%. Fourth, Fujian's exports fell by a large margin, reaching 8%. In addition, the provinces (cities) with a large decline in export volume include Beijing, Hebei, Xinjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi and Inner Mongolia. The provinces (cities) with a large increase in export volume are Jilin, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hainan and Shanxi.
Step 2: Questions
On the one hand, it is a phenomenon of structural adjustment of China's agricultural products export, from land-intensive products to labor-intensive products, on the other hand, it also exposes various problems existing in China's agricultural products export.
(A) poor quality of primary agricultural products, low degree of value-added processing, lack of international competitiveness
China is a traditional agricultural country. Agricultural products mainly meet the needs of the domestic market. Due to the constraints of China's economic conditions, although China has advantages in labor and land resources, the degree of specialization, modernization and standardization of agricultural production is very low, many links are not in line with international standards, and the quality of many agricultural products cannot meet the needs of the international market. For example, from October to July to June in 2006, China's rice exports decreased by 760,000 tons compared with the same period of last year, including 680,000 tons exported to Indonesia, Russia and Malaysia. On the one hand, it is related to the trade policies and the relationship between supply and demand in these countries, on the other hand, it is also due to the poor quality and low processing level of rice in China, which leads to the lack of international competitiveness of rice and the inability to maintain the export market; Cotton also has the same problems of poor quality and low processing degree.
(2) Some agricultural products have high production costs and lack price advantages.
Due to the lack of large-scale management, modern management and seeds, many agricultural products in China have high production costs and lack of comparative advantages. For example, 200 1, although the export volume of edible oil increased by 50% year-on-year, it decreased by 4% year-on-year; Because soybeans have no price advantage, China has changed from the world's largest exporter to the largest importer.
(3) Health and quarantine problems have made life difficult.
China originally had certain advantages in the export of livestock products, but due to many problems such as production and processing, health and quarantine, the export of livestock products in China was not smooth. In the past, the European Union, Russian and other countries once banned the import of livestock products from China. In 200 1 year, due to the influence of avian influenza in neighboring countries (regions), China's poultry products exports to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macao were also hit hard. In addition, China has advantages in vegetable production. However, due to the high pesticide residue, its export to Europe, America, Taiwan Province Province and other places is subject to many restrictions.
The poor export system and blind competition of domestic enterprises are not conducive to exports.
China's current agricultural trade system can no longer meet the needs of the open market economy. Farmers in China need time to adapt to the changes in the domestic market economy, not to mention the integration with the international market. This separation of production and marketing not only harms farmers' interests, but also prevents farmers from understanding foreign market information, adjusting product structure in time and producing products that meet market demand. In addition, blind competition among export enterprises has also brought many problems to China's agricultural products export. For example, at 200 1, Japan imposed "import restrictions" on China's green onions and mushrooms, ostensibly because China's export price was too low, which impacted its domestic market and had a tendency to dump. Although there is no dumping tendency in China, the prices of the above-mentioned agricultural products exported by China to Japan are indeed declining, which is mainly caused by competition and self-suppression among exporting enterprises. Therefore, although the export volume to Japan is growing rapidly, the growth rate of export volume is obviously lagging behind, which also makes our interests suffer losses.
suggestion
First of all, we should work hard on the products to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. For agricultural products with comparative advantages such as vegetables, aquatic products and livestock products, it is necessary to establish large-scale production and processing bases and establish brand-name products and enterprises. From production and processing to packaging, health and quarantine, a perfect mechanism should be established to improve the quality and deep processing of agricultural products and increase the export value of agricultural products by reducing costs and increasing added value. Attract, occupy and stabilize the market with quality to meet the challenge of market competition.
Secondly, we should change the system and create a channel for the export of agricultural products. We can organize relevant departments to study the international market from a macro perspective, strengthen the research on China's agricultural products export strategy, transmit information such as international and domestic market trade policies and impact analysis of China's entry into WTO to local governments, help local enterprises explore the international market, change the current situation of concentrated export markets, and spread trade risks. All localities can organize farmers' production through cooperative organizations, leading enterprises, demonstration parks and other forms according to local conditions to drive farmers to participate in international competition. Long Da Group, Geelong Group and Qingdao Vegetable High-tech Demonstration Park are all successful examples of Shandong Province.