Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.4
Comparing rural market prices with CIF prices (yuan per
tonne)
Items
Rural market price
2000 CIF
Rice
2,452
3,859
Wheat
1,477
1,375
Corn
1,265
976*
Soybean
2,341
1,785
Note:
Rural market prces are calculated as the mean of 1995 and 2000 rural market
prices (1995 prices have been converted to 2000 constant prices). CIF prices are derived
from the imported volumes and values in 2000, converted from US$ to RMB. The CIF price
s for 1999 snce data for 2000 are unavalable.
Source:
Calculated from Table A5.4-A5.7 and National Bureau of Statistics, 2001.
Statistical Yearbook of China
, China Statistics Press, Beijing.
year 2000. Only the rice price is significantly lower than the CIF price.
Gven consderaton of the qualty dfferences and the domestc costs for
purchase, transport, storage and wholesaling, domestic prices of the major
grains, except for rice, would still be higher than import prices.
In Table 5.4, the means of real market prices between 1995 and 2000
are compared with CIF prices. The comparison shows that, except for rice,
between 1995 and 2000 the means of the rural market prces for major
grains are all higher than the 2000 CIF prices. If the domestic costs of
purchasing, transport and wholesale activities are added, the domestic
prces would be even hgher.
In general, it is reasonable to accept the points of many Chinese experts
who believe that only rice production has comparative advantage, albeit
weak, in China, whereas all the other major grain products have either
weak or strong comparative disadvantage. Even for rice, due to the quality
differences between domestic and imported products, large imports are
still possible in the intermediate term. Therefore, the WTO tariff quota
wll have major mpacts on the domestc gran producton.
