International trade bill

Abstract: Zhejiang tea export occupies an extremely important position in China tea export market. With the further opening of the international agricultural products market and the increasingly fierce competition in the international tea market, Zhejiang tea exports are increasingly affected by foreign technical barriers. Starting with the main green barriers encountered in Zhejiang tea export trade, this paper analyzes the green barriers faced by Zhejiang tea industry and puts forward corresponding suggestions.

Keywords: Countermeasures for Green Barriers to Tea Export

Tea is a traditional dominant agricultural product in Zhejiang Province. Since the reform and opening up, especially in the last ten years, with the attention and support of governments at all levels, the tea industry in Zhejiang Province has made great progress by using the advantages of resources and technology, through the implementation of improved seed project, green project, brand project, tea factory optimization project and regional planning of characteristic and advantageous agricultural products. According to statistics, in 2005, the tea garden area in the province was 2.49 million mu, and the total output of tea was 1.3 1.8 million tons, with a total output value of 4.9 billion yuan, up by 5. 1% and 9.0% respectively over the previous year. Among them, the output of famous tea was 46,500 tons, with an output value of 4123 million yuan, up by 3.8% and 2.7% respectively over the previous year, both reaching the highest level in the history of Zhejiang tea. Tea industry has become one of the most dominant and sustainable agricultural leading industries in Zhejiang Province, which has made great contributions to increasing agricultural efficiency, making farmers rich and building new countryside in mountainous areas of Zhejiang Province, and also made great contributions to China's tea export reaching a record high.

First, Zhejiang tea industry development, tea export status.

(1) Tea exports grew steadily, and prices rebounded significantly.

According to the statistics of Zhejiang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, in 2000, the tea export of the whole province was 98.65438+0.8 million tons, and the export earned 65.438+0.38 billion US dollars. In 2007, it reached 65.438+0.934 million tons and 36.65438+0.8 billion dollars respectively, with an average increase of 654.38+0.73% and 654.38+0.04%. Accordingly, the export price of tea fell first and then rose. Since 200 1, the export price has been declining continuously, and in 2002 it fell to 1 170.37 USD/ton. Since 2003, export prices have started to rise. In 2007, the export price of tea reached 18 14.52 USD/ton, far exceeding the price level in 2000.

(2) The quality of exported tea was obviously improved.

In order to effectively improve the quality of tea and increase the export competitiveness, Zhejiang implemented the pollution-free tea and organic tea project, compiled the development plan of pollution-free tea and organic tea for 10, formulated the provincial and local standards of pollution-free tea (DB33/290 3-2000) and organic tea (DB33/T266.4-2000), and established pollution-free tea. At present, Zhejiang has built two national pollution-free tea production demonstration bases in Hua Kai and Anji, and 36 provincial pollution-free tea production bases in Xinchang, Chun 'an and Hua Kai. The area of pollution-free tea gardens in the province has reached 800,000 hectares, 64 tea bases have passed the certification of "pollution-free production bases" at the provincial level, and 1 1 tea products have passed the national pollution-free agricultural product certification. There are 1 and 4 1 enterprises in the province that have passed the organic tea certification of Tea Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the certified tea garden area is 76,000 mu, with an annual output of nearly 1 10,000 tons, accounting for about 50% of the total organic tea in China. According to the data from the Tea Quality Inspection Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, since the second half of 2002, the qualified rate of pesticide residues, heavy metals and other macro indicators has reached 98% in Zhejiang 1500 batches of tea, and the health and safety level of exported tea has been significantly improved.

The market has expanded and transnational operations have begun.

Zhejiang has established tea trade relations with nearly 60 countries and regions in the world, mainly Morocco, Russia, Senegal, Afghanistan, Japan, the European Union and Hong Kong. The main tea exported are pearl tea, eyebrow tea, steamed green tea and famous tea. Among them, the export of high-grade plum tea is mainly concentrated in West Africa and Morocco, the middle-grade plum tea is exported to Central Asia, and the camellia Abel. Export to American and Nigerian markets; The export of pearl tea is mainly concentrated in the Moroccan market (traditional large-scale trade and nominated brand tea in various packages), while the mid-range pearl tea is mainly exported to the Central Asian market and CIS countries, and the export of pearl tea is mainly in small packages ordered by customers; The export of steamed green tea is mainly concentrated in Japan, and a small part is sold to the European Union. Longjing tea is sold to Germany and Hong Kong. Black tea is mainly exported to America; Scented tea is mainly exported to Russia. In recent years, the export of organic tea has increased year by year, and the number of organic tea entering the European Union has also increased, reaching more than 5,000 tons in 2005. At the same time, some tea enterprises in Zhejiang Province began to set up tea branches or operating companies abroad, which laid a certain foundation for the independent brand of China tea.

Second, Zhejiang tea export trade encountered major green barriers

The EU is one of the major countries in China's tea export. At present, the EU's access standards are the most stringent in the world. There are 13 tea directives in the EU directive, and the contents of these 13 directives are all about pesticide residue limits in tea. Since July 2000 1, the new standards for pesticide residues in tea implemented by the European Union have increased the number of restricted pesticides from 6 to 108 and from 29 to 62, and some pesticide residue standards are more than 100 times higher than the original standards. Many standards use analytical instruments to detect lod as the limit standard of pesticide residues in tea. In addition, the pesticides commonly used in China are also very strict. For example, the European Commission Directive 2000/42/EC issued on June 22, 2000 raised the latest EU limit of fenvalerate to 0.05mg/kg, which was much higher than that of China, which was the main factor leading to the high over-standard rate of fenvalerate in China tea, and also caused the first sharp decline in China tea exports to the EU. In the new standard issued in June 65438+February 65438+June 2002, dimethoate was changed from 0.2mg/kg to 0.05mg/kg, which is twice the national index. At the same time, synergist used in pesticide production is added. In August 2005 1, the EU issued a new standard, in which the inspection items of pesticide residues in tea were increased from the original 193 to 2 10, and the limit of endosulfan in tea was changed from the original 30mg/kg to 0.0 1mg/kg. This new barrier is equivalent to "the inspection standard has been improved by 3000 times". Up to now, the maximum limit of pesticide residues in tea is 1 18. In addition, EU member countries, such as Spain, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and other countries also have their own pesticide residue standards, so there are more and more testing items. Since 200 1, Spain and other countries have taken strict testing measures for China's tea exports, and at the same time, the cases of pesticide residues exceeding the standard have been included in the European Commission's food rapid warning system for notification. For tea enterprises, the EU market is the winning highland. Europe imported a large amount of tea from the East a long time ago, and the market consumption potential is huge. Due to the harsh standards set by the European Union, the quantity of tea exported from China is not only decreasing year by year, but also being returned every year due to excessive pesticide residues. For example, Zhejiang's tea exports to the EU in 20001year decreased by 60% compared with 2000, and decreased by 36. 1% compared with 20001year in 2002. Japan is the second largest tea export market in China and the main market for green tea and oolong tea in Zhejiang. In 2004, Zhejiang exported12,300 tons of tea to Japan, with an export value of $27.6 million. For Zhejiang tea export, the Japanese market is more important. With the arrival of the aging society in Japan, the demand for sugar-free and calorie-free tea drinks will continue to grow, but the demand for tea is getting higher and higher. In recent years, Japan has also greatly increased the detection items of pesticide residues in tea, reaching 142 items. Compared with EU standards, it is not only large in quantity, but also stricter in some indicators. On May 29th, 2006, Japan officially implemented the "positive list system", which increased the number of inspection items of imported tea residues from 7 1 to 276, and adopted the "dry tea method" for inspection. All pesticide residues except the limited amount were subject to the "unified standard", that is, the limited amount was 0.0 1ppm. It is also clear that pesticide residues exceeding the limit will be considered illegal. This system has greatly improved the market access threshold. In the first five months of 2007, Zhejiang exported 3,000 tons of tea to Japan, a year-on-year decrease of 26%.

Third, the impact of green barriers on Zhejiang tea exports

(A) the growth rate of tea exports declined.

Since 2002, due to the change or increase of pesticide residue detection standards or items in tea exports from the EU and Japan to China, tea exports from China, mainly from Zhejiang Province, have encountered "green barriers", and tea exports to the EU and Japan have declined in an all-round way. Since the beginning of 2002, the European Union has implemented new standards for the detection of pesticide residues in tea exported from China, and the types of pesticide residues have been increased from 29 to 62, while Japanese tea imported from China has adopted the "water solution method", with 77 detection items. Zhejiang Province, which accounts for about half of China's tea exports, has gradually lost the European Union and Japanese markets. In 2002, the proportion of exports to the EU dropped from 4. 1% last year to 2.2%, only 2,800 tons and 4 million US dollars, down 40.9% and 33.5% respectively compared with the same period last year. In the same period, the export of tea to Japan also showed an obvious downward trend, and the export proportion dropped from 200 1 to 13.9% to 9.6%, about 9,500 tons, amounting to 20 million US dollars, down by 23. 1% and 30.7% respectively. On April 19, 2007, the European Tea Commission published a new EU standard for pesticide residues in tea, and made a lot of amendments to the EU directive issued on February 26 of the same year, involving 227 items, of which the limit of 207 items is the lowest standard that can be monitored by instruments at present. This standard has once again raised the threshold for China's tea export. From April to July, 2007, Zhejiang exported 3,260 tons of tea to Japan and 2,203 tons to the European Union, which decreased by 65,438 05.6% and 65,438 05.9% respectively compared with the first three months of 2007.

(B) increase the cost of tea production

In order to meet the pesticide residue and safety and hygiene standards of tea importing countries such as the European Union, Chinese tea producers and export enterprises have to improve the production and processing environment of tea, increase the cost of testing, certification and visa for sanitary quality, and further increase the rising sales cost of exported tea; According to statistics, in order to meet the European and American access standards, the number of pesticide residues in each batch of tea should reach at least 43, and the detection indicators of microorganisms and harmful metals should reach 13 or more. The total cost of testing each batch of tea is as high as 33,600 yuan. In order to facilitate testing and self-examination, enterprises generally need to introduce German testing equipment, each of which costs 700,000 yuan, and at the same time, they have to bear a lot of testing preparation expenses. In addition to testing costs, land costs, labor costs, production materials costs and so on will increase greatly. In addition, the incentive measures for tea farmers and tea processing enterprises engaged in green export in China are still blank.

(C) change the geographical direction of tea exports

The European Union, the United States and Japan have always been important export markets for Zhejiang tea. Japan began to implement the "positive list system" to limit the residues of pesticides, veterinary drugs and feed additives in food in 2006; In 2007, the European Tea Commission announced the new pesticide residue standards for tea in the EU and Germany, added acetamiprid and other 10 pesticide residue items, and updated the new limit of other 10 pesticide residue items. This makes it more difficult for Zhejiang tea to export to Europe. Compared with Africa, the market is easier to develop. Since 2006, Zhejiang tea began to "grab the beach" in African countries such as Morocco and Mauritania. According to a set of data from Hangzhou Customs, in the first five months of 2007, Zhejiang Province exported 365,438+million tons of tea to Africa, accounting for about 40% of the province's total tea exports.

(D) reduce the international competitiveness of the tea industry

Tea is a labor-intensive industry, and China has a low labor cost advantage. At the same time, China is rich in tea resources and has natural advantages in tea production. However, with the development and adjustment of industrial structure, the type of labor in China is gradually changing from intensive to technical, and the production cost of tea is rising. In tea trade, green barriers further increase the export cost of tea, seriously dampen the export capacity of tea, and further reduce the international competitiveness of China tea industry.

Four. Countermeasures of Green Barriers

(a) the implementation of pollution-free tea project, effective control of pesticide residues.

It is necessary to study the corresponding international standards and advanced standards, and revise and formulate a set of corresponding sanitary standards, so that domestic tea production can be based on evidence and export enterprises can follow rules.

(2) Grasp quality, safety and hygiene from the source.

At present, on the surface, it is a "green barrier" that hinders China's tea export, but the fundamental reason is the residue of harmful ingredients such as pesticides in tea. It is not excluded that some countries set up barriers to restrict China's tea exports to a certain extent, but there is no doubt that compared with international testing standards, many teas in China do have problems of pesticide residues and substandard sanitary quality. Under the guidance of the unified organization of enterprises, an integrated organization of tea industry and trade will be established to participate in the development of China tea export base, increase investment in tea science and technology, produce in strict accordance with international unified standards, and promote the production process of replacing inorganic fertilizer with organic fertilizer and chemical control with biological control.

(3) Actively develop new varieties to meet the market demand, explore new markets, strive for more consumer groups, and adopt new trade means and methods to expand China's tea exports.

(D) Establish a green tea export compensation mechanism.

We should learn from indirect subsidies and direct subsidies. Where it is used for the construction and improvement of public facilities and public platforms, it will be supported by indirect subsidies method, and the losses involving specific tea farmers and export enterprises will be directly subsidized by linking production and sales, and the subsidy funds will be directly sent to farmers or enterprises. In the long run, indirect subsidies is the main form of subsidies, but in the near future, it is necessary to increase the intensity of direct subsidies to help tea farmers and enterprises make up for the losses caused by green production and establish confidence in breaking through green barriers.