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Farm product exports decline

By Si Tingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-13 08:04

Exports of high-end farm products from China slowed last year, as more and more people juggled their food budgets and cut down on costly food items due to the economic crisis.

Fruit juice exports fell 7.4 percent last year, the first ever decline, while exports of other farm products saw less growth momentum.

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The growth rate for vegetables and fruits fell by 10.8 percent and 38.6 percent year-on-year respectively, Wei Chao'an, vice-minister of agriculture said yesterday at a press briefing during the annual parliament meeting.

"Many small- and medium-sized producers and processors of farm products in rural areas are facing a bleak business climate," Wei said. "Many are facing money shortages and their farms are running below capacity," he said.

Garden products and aquatic products are the only farm products that managed to survive the negative impact of financial crisis, Wei said. Aquatic products had the biggest share in farm produce exports and accounted for 26.2 percent, according to a statement by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

Weak exports and strong imports deepened China's trade deficit in farm products last year to $18.16 billion, the MOA said in statement on its website yesterday.

Farm products exported to neighboring countries like Japan and South Korea, accounting for one-third of China's exports, declined by the largest margins of 8.1 percent and 12.1 percent respectively, as the two countries were among the worst hit in the global economic downturn, the statement said. In contrast, farm products exported to the EU, US and ASEAN countries remained static with a 16 percent growth rate like last year.

"The appreciation of the Chinese yuan against the Japanese yen and Korean won also led to the export decline," Zhang Yongjun, senior economist with the State Information Office, told China Daily yesterday.

China has raised export tax rebates on some agricultural products, and revoked or canceled export duty for some grains to protect farmers and promote exports.

Analysts said the downtrend may not be reversed in the short term, as falling international prices for farm produce trim the competitiveness of Chinese goods.

Domestic farm products' prices, pressured by a record grain harvest and a fall-off in demand, have been declining, in line with global commodity prices, Zhang said.