Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Horticultural products
The group of hortcultural products has been the thrd largest commodty
group n Chna's agrcultural exports. Exports of hortcultural products have
increased relatively quickly, from US$3 billion in 2001 to US$4.7 billion in
2005, at an average annual growth rate of 11.6 per cent, which is similar to
the annual growth rate of total agricultural exports. As a result, the share
of hortcultural products n Chna's total agrcultural exports has remaned
at around 20 per cent.
Within this group, vegetables are the most important commodities,
followed by fruits and the product categories of tea, coffee, mate and
spces. After 2001 exports of vegetables and fruts ncreased more rapdly
than other commodtes n ths group and the share of vegetables n
horticultural exports has increased from 52.4 per cent during 1992-2001 to
55.3 per cent during 2002-05. At the same time the share of fruits in total
horticultural exports has increased from 14.7 per cent to 18.8 per cent.
Cereals, edible vegetable oilseeds and vegetable
ols
The 'cereals, edible vegetable oilseeds and vegetable
ols' group ranks
fourth in China's agricultural exports. The annual export value of cereals,
edible vegetable oilseeds and vegetable oils has fluctuated extensively
over the period 1992 to 2005. Following China's entry into the WTO, the
importance of this commodity group has declined, falling from 14.8 per
cent during 1992-2001 to 12.2 per cent during 2002-05.
Within the group, corn has been the single most important export
commodity. Annual exports of corn averaged US$0.8 billion in 1992-2001,
increased to US$1.1 billion in 2002, and to US$1.7 billion in 2003. In 2004,
because of several economic and policy factors, including changes in the
relationship between domestic prices and world prices,
5
and the reducton
in corn export quotas (Gale 2005), China's corn exports declined sharply
to US$0.3 billion. However, corn exports increased again in 2005, reaching
almost US$1 billion. On average, corn exports have accounted for around
40 per cent of the total exports of this group during 2002-05.
