Trade of Agricultural products under the New normal

2015 the No. 1 document of the Central Committee has focused on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for 12 consecutive years, highlighting "sustainability" and sending a clear signal to the development of modern agriculture. China is a country with a large population, food security is no small matter, and the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers have always been closely watched by senior officials.

How to make sure that Chinese people have enough food to eat? How to make the common people eat at ease? How to make full use of both international and domestic markets and resources to develop China's modern agriculture and promote agricultural modernization? With these questions in mind, the reporter interviewed Niu Dun, who had just been transferred by the vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture to be the permanent representative of the Food and Agriculture Agency of the United Nations during the national two sessions.

Niu Dun, who graduated from Beijing Agricultural University, has been engaged in the research and management of agricultural problems for more than 30 years. Since he was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1992, Niu Dun has participated in the WTO agricultural negotiations and the formulation of many international agricultural agreements, conventions and standards, especially since he became vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2004. Niu Dun has been in charge of international cooperation and has done a lot of work in promoting and strengthening multilateral, bilateral and inter-regional international cooperation and exchanges. A few days ago, Niu Dun, 60, served as permanent representative of the people's Republic of China to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency and stepped down as vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture.

How to treat the trade deficit of agricultural products

Reporter China overtook the United States in 2011 to become the world's largest importer of agricultural products. At present, domestic agriculture is under the impact of cheap foreign agricultural products. What do you think of this problem?

Niu Dun: last year, the trade volume of agricultural products imported by China was more than 110 billion US dollars, and its export was about 60 billion US dollars. At present, China's trade in agricultural products is in a state of deficit, which is about more than 50 billion US dollars.

We hope to promote the trade and development of agricultural products, which is conducive to China's competitive agricultural products to the international market. At present, the most competitive agricultural products in China are aquatic products, and more imports are foreign soybean products, edible oil, cotton and so on. We have also imported some grain, including corn, wheat, rice and so on. Through the trade of agricultural products, it has made contributions to the healthy development of agricultural trade at home and abroad.

When it comes to shocks, from another point of view, this is actually a great power effect. No matter which variety our country imports, its import volume is more in the world agricultural product trade market, but after it is imported into China, it is a very small proportion compared with the total amount of all kinds of agricultural products in our country.

Last year, China imported about 14 million tons of grain, which has caused great repercussions in the world trade market. However, this quantity only accounts for less than 3% of China's total grain production. At present, China's grain production self-sufficiency rate is 97%, and the bottom line of our food security is 95%.

Reporter: the Central Rural work Conference and the National Agricultural work Conference held at the end of last year and the Central "No. 1 document" issued this year all mentioned the need to make full use of both international and domestic markets and resources to develop our modern agriculture. we will promote agricultural modernization. Please talk about the international situation of China's foreign trade of agricultural products.

Niudun: the trade of agricultural products is quite special. Basically, every country hopes to export more, import less or even not import, because only in this way can we improve agricultural efficiency and increase farmers' income. If there are more imports, it will certainly depress the prices of domestic agricultural products, affect the enthusiasm of farmers, and even lead to the shrinkage of domestic agriculture and the reduction of competitiveness.

If you want to talk about the international market, you should mention WTO. It is needless to say that the advantages that China's accession to the WTO will bring to China's foreign trade, but when we joined the WTO, we also promised certain "tariff quotas" for imported agricultural products, such as wheat, corn, rice, cotton, sugar, wool and sliver. Although the promise is a possibility, but now on this grounds, some countries want to make the possibility of market imports a necessary obligation, and do not recognize our status as a market economy country, which requires negotiations.

Another thing: after joining the WTO, we promised to greatly increase the market access level of our agricultural products and reduce tariffs. At present, the average tariff on China's agricultural products is 15.1%, which is 1/4 of the world's average tariff level, indicating that China's agricultural product market is in the forefront of the world.

However, in some countries, the tariffs on competitive agricultural products are very low, while those that need to be imported are very high. For example, most of the agricultural products that the United States needs to import are above 100%, while some European countries can reach 100%. 800%. These trade barriers are also not conducive to China's foreign trade of agricultural products.

Reporter: in such a trade environment, how can we seek an active position in agricultural trade and win space for the development of domestic agricultural products?

Niu Dun: after 36 years of reform and opening up, my own experience is that we Chinese have created a market with huge demand and great potential. Market economy is the relationship between supply and demand, and we create demand, which is the driving force of social development. In the face of this market, we should study how to make it benefit Chinese enterprises and farmers. Let our agricultural products show their benefits in this market.

One of the points is to increase the export of agricultural products to reflect agricultural benefits and increase farmers' income. At the same time, we should reduce imports of agricultural products, protect our interests, and let China's agricultural system and products produced by farmers meet China's domestic needs. This is not only to stimulate domestic demand, but also to improve the efficiency of domestic agriculture and increase the income of farmers.

Reporter: you have worked in the Ministry of Agriculture for a long time, and you have also participated in international agricultural exchanges and cooperation for many times. how do you do abroad on the production and trade of agricultural products?

Niu Dun: we can look at the experience of the United States. The United States is a country with a complete market economy, but the agricultural production planning of the United States is very strong. Their plan mainly considers two points, one is to meet domestic needs, and the other is the global layout, which market to occupy and where to export. After meeting the above two points, what if there is still excess agricultural production capacity? The United States and the European Union specially created a trade policy beneficial to their agriculture in the WTO-the Blue Box Policy (BlueBoxMeasures). The Blue Box Policy stipulates that the payments related to the production restriction plan can be exempted from the concession commitment (such as the differential subsidy for fallow land), and some direct payments are given under the production restriction plan. In other words, when there is excess capacity, the government will tell farmers not to grow food, but to plant grass and give more subsidies.

After China's accession to the WTO, there is no subsidy for the export of agricultural products. Although this is in line with the requirements of the market economy, is the competition fair compared with the above-mentioned policies in Europe and the United States? Therefore, I suggest that in the next step, we should increase investment in agriculture, formulate policies beneficial to agriculture, build a social service system beneficial to agriculture, constantly improve the quality of agricultural products, reduce the cost of China's agricultural products, and improve competitiveness.

Reporter: in the market behavior, we found that some industries tend to import foreign products because they are cheaper. And now the tariff quota mechanism is also beginning to be questioned by some people abroad and even at home. What do you think?

Niu Dun: the tariff quota mechanism cannot be challenged in China. When we joined the WTO, we said that China is a new member of the WTO, a developing country, there are still many farmers, and agricultural products are related to China's national economy and people's livelihood. We must have certain regulatory capabilities and means. I would like to make it clear that the import tariff quota mechanism for agricultural products cannot be changed and cannot be challenged.

We will not import a large number of foreign agricultural products whose prices are much lower than those of domestic agricultural products, because doing so will certainly suppress the prices of domestic agricultural products, and the production enthusiasm of agricultural labourers will also be affected. the development of agricultural national industries will be affected. No country would do so.

However, this is a contradiction. The market mechanism is a kind of price upside down, no matter whether it is the enterprise, the main body of the market economy, or the market economy person, they all pursue profit and pursue the maximization of interests. Therefore, it is necessary to sell agricultural products with low import prices in China, and you can earn a price difference. We can regulate and control this situation, and more importantly, we should do our own work well.