What obstacles China faces in expanding the export of agricultural products

Introduction: in principle, WTO members should give each other the most favored nation treatment unconditionally However, as a new country applying for WTO, China's treatment actually depends on the specific conditions reached through bilateral and multilateral negotiations, and there are indeed some discriminatory arrangements in the final WTO accession agreement Therefore, although the external environment for China's trade will be improved, there will still be a series of obstacles in expanding the export of agricultural products There are both internal and external factors that restrict the export prospects of China's agricultural products 1 China's food safety legislation and law enforcement organizations are not sound, and the law enforcement capacity is poor, and the quality and safety of agricultural products are increasingly prominent In the horticultural products and animal products with obvious price advantages in China, due to the unreasonable use of inputs, unscientific harvest of products, unreasonable discharge of industrial "three wastes" and urban domestic waste, and lax market supervision and management, toxic and harmful substances exceed the standard, resulting in human and animal poisoning events and export products being rejected, detained, returned, claimed and suspended contracts , stop trade contacts and other phenomena occur from time to time, which has become an important obstacle to expand exports Therefore, even after China's accession to the WTO, it is difficult for China's products to exceed the threshold established by developed countries using health and quarantine measures and technical standards Z7a 2 Most of the agricultural product processing enterprises in China have not set up institutions to study the international market, nor have their own overseas sales channels They are not good at carrying out promotional activities in the overseas market Their ability to develop new technologies and products is weak Their foreign trade channels are limited by institutional factors, and they lack the ability to respond to changes in foreign demand in a timely manner Z7a 3 Under the traditional system of managing agricultural production, processing, marketing and foreign trade in different links, the information exchange between government departments is poor, the rights and responsibilities are unclear, not only the problems can not be solved in time, but also the phenomenon of general administrative departments using the power to seek private interests, which improves the cost of agricultural products and their processed products, and reduces the international competitiveness After the Uruguay round, many members, such as the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and so on, have implemented tariff quota management on sensitive agricultural products import, using this system to limit the possibility of expanding import Vegetables, fruits and meat, which have strong price competitiveness, are the main agricultural products under the management of tariff quota system Z7a 5 Developed countries generally implement extremely strict quality, hygiene and safety standards for food for the reason of protecting consumers' health In this area, WTO agreements only require all parties to refer to relevant international standards to avoid adverse effects on trade, but lack of binding discipline, so that such measures can still become a means of trade restriction In addition, some importing countries, such as South Korea and Japan, have also used such practices as restricting importers and domestic distribution channels, and implementing compulsory product source labeling system to strengthen technical barriers to trade Z7a 6 According to the WTO Agreement on agriculture, for the agricultural products subject to tariff, members can implement special safeguard measures according to Article 5 of the agreement, that is, to impose temporary additional tariff on the imported goods, the level of which is not limited by their own tariff concession commitments At this time, the countries implementing special safeguard measures need not prove that their production is seriously damaged by import Such measures provide a means for importing countries to prevent the market of sensitive products from being severely impacted, and at the same time make exporting countries face greater uncertainty According to the results of the negotiation, China promises to agree to adopt a discriminatory safeguard mechanism for its products by other members within the 12-year transition period after China's accession to the WTO, that is, restrictions can be implemented when the imported products have already or may have impacted its market This is a commitment that is extremely unfavorable to China's agricultural exports The general safeguard clause of WTO provides another way for the importing countries to restrict their imports Z7a 7 China's agricultural exports traditionally rely on low price competition, but this strategy is currently restricted by the anti-dumping measures taken by the importing countries In the WTO agreement, China agreed that other members should deal with dumping cases involving our products according to the standard of "non market economy countries" within 15 years, which made our agricultural products export in a disadvantageous position It is not easy to remove the obstacles mentioned above to expand agricultural exports, which involves technology, economy, policy and system, and requires long-term and solid work Z7a (author:) to feed Weibo to: