Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to stimulate imports and exports (Martin 2002). Although trade in many
major agricultural commodities was not liberalised, the moves spurred the
export of many agricultural goods. In addition, policy shifts in the 1980s
and 1990s also changed the behaviour of state traders, who were allowed
to ncrease mports.
Moves to relax the rights of access to import and export markets were
matched by acton to reduce the taxes that were beng assessed at the
border. A new effort began n the early 1990s to reduce the level of formal
protection of agriculture. From 1992 to 1998, the simple average agricultural
import tariff fell from 42.2 per cent to 23.6 per cent, and by 2001 it had
reached 21 per cent (Rosen et al. 2004).
Overall, agricultural sector trade distortions declined in the 20 years
before China joined the WTO (Huang et al. 2004). Much of the decline in
protecton came from decentralsng the authorty for mports and exports
and from relaxing licensing procedures for some crops (for example, moving
oil and oil seed imports away from state trading firms), as well as foreign
exchange rate changes. Other trade polcy changes have reduced the scope
of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), relaxed the real tariff rates at the border
and increased quotas (Huang and Chen 1999). Despite this real and, in
some areas, rapid set of reforms, the control of a set of commodities that
leaders consider to be of national strategic importance—including rice,
wheat and maize—remains with policymakers to a large extent (Nyberg
and Rozelle 1999).
Given the changes made before the country's accession to the WTO, it
is not surprising that, while it was a major event in China (and will have
an impact on many sectors), in its most basic terms it is a continuation
of previous policies. Hence, the commitments embodied in China's WTO
accession agreement with respect to the agricultural sector—market access,
domestic support and export subsidies—are essentially a continuation of
what Chna was dong n the 1990s.
Summary of China's transition-era agricultural policies.
The scope
of Chna's polcy efforts durng the transton era s mpressve. Polcy
shifts were made in pricing, the organisation of production, marketing,
investment, technology and trade. Although the rate of investment has
risen during the reform period, China is still under-investing in agriculture
