Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
China-ASEAN agricultural export and import structure, 2005.
Figure 12.3
shows Chna's export and mport shares of agrcultural products wth ASEAN
n 2005. Chna's agrcultural exports to ASEAN are concentrated manly n
three groups of commodities: vegetables and fruits, processed food, and
fish. The combined share of the three commodity groups accounted for 77
per cent of total agricultural exports to ASEAN. Vegetables and fruits are
the largest export commodity group, accounting for 40 per cent.
Chna's agrcultural mports from ASEAN are also concentrated n three
dfferent commodty groups. The most mportant mported agrcultural
commodity is vegetable oils, taking up 36 per cent. Decomposing this
category, we find that palm oil accounted for 98.8 per cent of total
vegetable ol mports from ASEAN n 2005. The second most mportant
commodity is rubber—accounting for 33 per cent of total agricultural imports
from ASEAN—and the third is vegetables and fruits, accounting for 14 per
cent. The combned share of the three commodty groups accounted for
83 per cent of total agricultural imports from ASEAN.
Changes in China's agricultural trade structure with ASEAN, 1992-2005.
The export share of vegetables and fruts n Chna's total agrcultural
exports to ASEAN ncreased steadly from 12.2 per cent n 1992 to 40.9
per cent in 2005 (Table 12.1). Vegetables and fruits became the largest
group of agrcultural exports from Chna to ASEAN n 2002 and ts status
has been strengthened by strong export growth snce then. The remarkable
improvement might have resulted from the EHP tariff-reduction program
launched between Chna and ASEAN n 2004.
The export share of fish was very small (no more than 3 per cent) before
2002; however, it increased quickly from 4.7 per cent in 2002 to 13.8 per cent
in 2005. In 2004, the export share of fish from China to ASEAN jumped to
16 per cent from 7.5 per cent in 2003. The large change was due mainly to
two factors: first, the United States placed anti-dumping duties on China's
prawn exports n 2004 and some products were dverted to the ASEAN
market. Second, the EHP launched in 2004 provided good opportunities for
China's fish products to access ASEAN's market (Agricultural Information
Centre of Guangx Autonomous Regon 2004).
As cereals belong to 'sensitive products' related directly to food security,
exports of cereals have always been affected significantly by China's trade
policy. For example, exports of the largest export component in cereals (that
