Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
12
Agricultural trade between
China and ASEAN
Dynamcs and prospects
Jun Yang and Chunlai Chen
Blateral trade between Chna and the Assocaton of South-East Asan
Natons (ASEAN) has expanded very quckly snce 2001. Chna became
ASEAN's third largest export market in 2005, after the United States and
Japan. In particular, ASEAN's agricultural exports to China have increased
rapidly, reaching US$5.9 billion in 2005. As a result, China became the
thrd largest agrcultural export market for ASEAN n 2005. Wth ts rapd
economic growth and structural change, slowing population growth,
continuing income growth, rapid urbanisation and limited natural resources,
Chna can be expected to mport an ncreasng volume of agrcultural
products to meet ts ncreasng food demand and the raw materal demands
of its high-growth industries (Chen 2006; Huang and Yang 2006; Chen 2004;
Huang and Rozelle 2003). China's huge and fast growing purchasing power
will provide great opportunities for agricultural exporting countries (Huang
and Yang 2006).
The trade relatonshp between Chna and ASEAN has been strengthened
by the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), signed in 2002. In
2005, the ASEAN-China free trade area was the world's largest free trade
area, with a population of 1.86 billion, combined gross domestic product
(GDP) of US$2.62 trllon (2000 constant US dollar) and total trade value of
US$1.23 trillion (2000 constant US dollar). The free trade agreement will
be implemented fully in 10 years (by 2010). As a first step, the so-called
