Dopo ingresso in WTO molti agricoltori cinesi sono
passati a produzioni per l’export, soprattutto frutta [a più alta intensità
di lavoro e valore aggiunto per ettaro rispetto ai cereali].
- Partendo quasi da zero vent’anni fa, la Cina è divenuta di
gran lunga il primo produttore mondiale di mele, surclassando gli USA:
26,1 contro 5,2 milioni di tonn. nella scorsa stagione. - Export mele cinesi = 274,5 m$, 2,5 volte il livello del
2001. - Mercati principali: SE Asia e Russia.
- Agricoltori cinesi premono per liberalizzazione mercati
delle metropoli. - In Tailandia tra 1997 e 2004 la quota USA sull’import
di mele è crollata da 61 e 7%, quella della Cina è balzata da 6 a 84%. - Mele cinesi vendute a 2 cents per libbra (circa 4 cent il
kg), contro 0,19 cent del costo delle mele USA. - Mercato interno USA viene protetto con regole che
richiedono la certificazione che mele non contengono nessuno di cinquanta
pesticidi o malattie; cinesi affermano che si tratta di una forma di
protezionismo. - Ha sfondato invece l’export di concentrato di frutta;
nel 1999 produttori USA con ricorso antidumping avevano ottenuto l’imposizione
di tariffe fino al 52%, ma in seguito a ricorso delle compagnie cinesi le
tariffe sono state ridotte. - Grande produttore della provincia interna dello Shaanxi,
quotatosi in Borsa a Hong Kong, prevede di vendere in USA il 60% della
produzione di concentrato di frutta (a grandi gruppi alimentari Kraft, Pepsi,
Nestlé). - La concorrenza cinese ha ridotto il prezzo al produttore
delle mele usate per il concentrato sul mercato USA a $20 la tonn. da circa $60
nel 1999. - In Cina la costruzione di strade ha facilitato il trasporto
verso le città e i porti, ma in zone rurali mancano ancora infrastrutture per
la conservazione. - L’Associazione Cinese Produttori di Mele dice che il governo
sta elaborando standard sull’uso di pesticidi per poter esportare in USA ed EU,
e per il mercato interno dei “prodotti biologici”. - Caso di Han Zhenbin, 53, che ha messo a mele
metà del suo piccolo appezzamento di terra, prima coltivato a grano, nello
Shaanxi, esportando quasi tutto il prodotto in Kazakistan. Mentre prima
riusciva solo a procurarsi l’indispensabile per vivere, ora ha costruito case
per i due figli, acquistato automobile, due moto e due TV a schermo grande. Sta
meditando se mettere a mele anche l’altra metà della terra.
By MURRAY HIEBERT
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 13, 2005; Page B1
NANQI VILLAGE, China — For decades, Han
Zhenbin struggled to make a living growing grain on his tiny plot of
land here in the central Chinese province of Shaanxi. But his
fortunes have changed dramatically since China joined the World Trade
Organization in 2001, making it easier for farmers to sell their commodities
overseas.
The 53-year-old farmer planted apple trees
on half of his land and started selling the produce overseas. The apple
business has been so profitable that he has built homes for his two sons and
bought a car, two motorcycles and two large-screen television sets. Before,
"I could only think of securing warmth and shelter," Mr. Han says.
"I didn’t have any electronic appliances."
Farmers like Mr. Han are prospering across
China as they switch from cultivating grain to fruit and vegetables for export. As a result, they have a big stake in the WTO talks set to begin
today in Hong Kong. Developing nations — including China — complain that
wealthy nations are protecting their farmers with subsidies and high import
tariffs. Lower the tariffs and cut subsidies, developing nations argue, and
farmers like Mr. Han can sell more produce overseas.
But a sudden explosion of Chinese fruit and
vegetable exports — like the flood of cheap textiles from China — could make
it harder for industrialized nations to abandon subsidies for their farmers.
China’s swift move into the global apple
market highlights the concerns of industrialized nations. The country, which had
almost no orchards two decades ago, has soared ahead of the U.S. as the world’s
largest apple grower. China produced 26.1 million short tons of apples
from July 2004 to June 2005, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
foreign agriculture service. The U.S. produced 5.2 million short tons in the
same time.
The boom in production helped China’s
apple exports total $274.5 million in 2004, more than 2½ times the 2001 level,
according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In some countries, China is muscling out U.S.
fruit growers. The U.S.’s market share of apple exports to Thailand fell to
7% in 2004 from 61% in 1997, says Rebecca Baerveldt, export manager for the
Washington State Apple Commission. (Washington is the largest producer of
apples in the U.S.) China’s share, meanwhile, reached 84% last year,
compared with 6% seven years earlier.
Initially, observers predicted that Chinese
farmers would be hurt by a flood of cheap agricultural products from abroad
after China joined the WTO. Instead, many farmers have reinvented themselves
by growing apples, pears, broccoli, onions and other fresh produce. Last
year, China exported vegetables and fruits totaling $3.5 billion, up from
$2.3 billion in 2001. Its most important fresh-produce markets are Southeast
Asia and Russia.
China’s abundant and cheap rural work force
makes it hard for others to compete. China produces apples for about $0.02
per pound, or about one-ninth of the U.S. cost of $0.19 per pound, says
Scott Rozelle, a professor at the University of California at Davis and an
expert on China’s agriculture.
But Chinese farmers are hampered by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rigorous standards that require importers of
fruit to prove that their products contain none of 50 or more prohibited pests
and diseases that effectively bar fresh Chinese apples from the U.S.
Some Chinese officials argue that the U.S.’s
stiff import regulations are a form of protectionism. "The U.S. set
up the barriers because otherwise U.S. companies could face bankruptcy,"
says Wang Zhenxing, head of Shaanxi province’s fruit department, which helps
farmers improve their apple crops and boost exports.
At the same time, U.S. apple growers are
finding opportunities in China. U.S. exports of red
and Golden Delicious apples to China increased more than 600% last year to
nearly 12,400 short tons from less than 2,100 short tons in 2003, says Ms.
Baerveldt of the Washington Apple Commission.
Chinese apple-juice producers have been
more successful breaking into the U.S. market. Complaints
from U.S. apple-juice processors that China was selling juice concentrate for
less than what it cost to produce led the U.S. Department of Commerce to impose
tariffs of as much as 52% on the concentrate exported by 11 Chinese companies
in 1999. The companies challenged the ruling, and the Commerce Department
lifted the tariff in 2003.
One company that benefited was Shaanxi
Haisheng Fresh Fruit Juice Co., which was listed on the Hong Kong stock
exchange last month. Shaanxi Haisheng expects to ship about 60% of its
roughly 110,231 short tons of apple-juice concentrate to the U.S. this year,
says company Deputy General Manager You Yong. Its largest U.S. clients include
Kraft Foods Inc., PepsiCo Inc. and Nestlé SA.
The U.S. Apple Association says the flood of
cheap Chinese apple juice is driving many U.S. apple producers out of business.
U.S. farmers today receive only $20 per short ton for apples used for juice,
compared with about $60 in 1999, the association says.
Chinese apple farmers still face daunting
challenges. While many roads have been upgraded in recent years,
facilitating transport of fresh fruit to ports or urban markets, many rural
areas still lack modern cooling and storage facilities. And it remains
difficult for regulators to monitor pesticide use, because the industry is
fragmented.
Zhu Zidong, director of the China Apple
Association in Beijing, says the government is developing standards to
limit pesticide use to cater to the U.S. and Europe and to meet the demands of
China’s middle-class consumers for naturally grown produce.
Mr. Han, the farmer, sold most of his
apple crop this year to Kazakhstan. He says he is plotting his next move
because grain is still less profitable than apples. "I’m considering
switching totally to apples," he says.