Affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak,
China's
agricultural product exports grew slowly in the year's first half
while farm product imports remained robust.
As a result, China's agricultural trade surplus dwindled from
US$3 billion in the same period of last year to US$770 million in
the first half, a decrease of 74 percent.
In the first half, China exported US$9.6 billion worth of farm
products, up 19 percent year-on-year, but its agricultural import
volumes rocketed to US$8.8 billion, up 74 percent.
Farm product exports in the first half accounted for 5.04
percent of China's total exports, which declined 0.63 percentage
points compared with last year.
The influence of SARS on China's agricultural exports was mainly
felt in April and May. Exports in those two months decreased 6
percent and 7 percent from March's volumes.
In June, farm product exports grew 5.7 percent.
SARS mainly affected Chinese exports of live poultry, corn,
vegetables, fruit and other special produce.
It also affected aquatic products to some extent.
Geographically, SARS seriously affected farm product exports
from Beijing, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Fujian,
Guangdong, Shandong, Jilin and Anhui provinces.
SARS also threatened small and medium-sized farm product
processing enterprises in China, while its effect on big
agricultural enterprises was minimal.
In June, China's exports of poultry, vegetables and fruit were
still affected by SARS, and the impacts could continue into the
third quarter, depending on when importing countries abandon their
bans of such imports from China.
The animal husbandry industry -- especially China's poultry
exports -- was hit most seriously by SARS in the first half. Export
growth of China's animal husbandry products rose slightly, 0.4
percent, in the first half, but, in May and June, the exports
declined 13.3 percent and 10 percent over April.
SARS also had a significant impact on China's fruit and
vegetable exports in April and May.
In the first half, China's vegetable exports grew 13.8 percent,
year-on-year, to US$1.36 billion. However, export volumes between
April and June decreased 6.5 percent, 7.6 percent and 4.2 percent,
respectively, over March.
Vegetable exports in Beijing in the three months decreased 82
percent, 83 percent, and 55 percent, respectively, compared with
the same periods of last year.
In the first half, SARS periodically affected corn exports, but
its influence on other produce was minimal.
During the period, China's corn exports rose 92.1 percent,
year-on-year, but in April and May, corn exports decreased 65
percent and 75 percent compared with the volumes in March.
In June, corn exports rose 14 percent over March, indicating a
recovery from SARS.
Major factors blocking the growth of corn exports include slower
transportation due to SARS and foreign importers' fears about doing
business with China during the SARS outbreak.
Such concerns did not affect other grain products.
In the first six months, China's grain exports grew 87.1
percent, to 8.98 million tons, among which, 1.14 million tons of
rice and 723,000 tons of wheat were exported, up 74.7 percent and
79.67 percent, respectively.
Some fish exports were slightly affected by SARS, but, on the
whole, aquatic products were not seriously affected by the
outbreak.
In the first half of the year, aquatic products valued at
US$2.36 billion were exported, up 16 percent year-on-year. Between
March and June, there was continued export growth, which indicated
SARS had less impact on fruit, vegetables and poultry exports.
Yet, between May and June, processed fish products were
affected. Exports of processed fish products decreased 14 percent
and 23 percent, respectively, compared with March, and exports of
fish decreased 42 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared
with March.
But because exports of the two products account for a small
percentage of aquatic products, they did not influence exports of
the whole industry.
Between April and June, SARS periodically affected agricultural
exports from Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Fujian, Guangdong,
Shandong, Jilin and Anhui provinces.
Exports from Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, major
agricultural exporters, increased 1.8 percent and 12 percent,
respectively, in the first half while Fujian's exports fell 1.1
percent.
Shandong's export growth remained robust during the year's first
half, despite SARS.
While farm export growth slowed in the first half, agricultural
imports increased dramatically, due to lower agricultural tariffs
that resulted from China's membership in the World Trade
Organization.
Between January and May, China's cotton imports increased by 30
times, compared with the same period last year, to reach 375,000
tons.
China's soybean imports increased 211.6 percent, year-on-year,
to 10.15 million tons in the first half of this year.
(China Daily August 31, 2003)