What standards should fruits and vegetables meet for foreign trade?

Through more than a decade of development trends, China has not only become a major global producer of fruit and vegetable products, but also shows a sustained growth trend in fruit and vegetable product exports. According to professional analysis, compared to the abundant requirements of the international market, the export market of fruit and vegetable products in China has a broad prospect. However, if we want to truly expand our business scale into the international market, we must also get rid of the negative effects caused by factors such as green barriers, technological backwardness, trade friction, and vicious competition.

Fruit and vegetable products are labor-intensive products. The key players in China's vegetable exports are Japan, South Korea, and other countries. The comparative advantages of Chinese vegetable production and manufacturing are reflected in China's abundant labor resources and low vegetable product costs. The price of Chinese vegetables is about 1/5-1/8 of the international market price. In addition, the short delivery time and low logistics costs of vegetable exports to Japan and South Korea make Chinese vegetable exports have strong price competitiveness. In China, over 1 million tons of fresh fruits are exported every year, with Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, and Europe being key export destinations. In China, the prices of key fruits and melons are widely lower than those in the international market, with pear and citrus prices being 40% to 70% lower than those in the international market, which has strong price war advantages.

After joining the WTO, the use of a good trade natural environment has accelerated the pace of export in China's fruit and vegetable industry chain and achieved significant results. Moreover, the development trend of fresh fruit trade with the ten ASEAN countries is faster. At this stage, the total number and quota of fresh fruits exported to the the Belt and Road are growing continuously. But currently, China exports only over 1 million tons of fresh fruits per year, which is less than 2% of the total output value and far less than the world average of 10%.

The first issue for fruit and vegetable exports is green trade barriers. Pesticide residues and pest control issues. Due to the lack of professional knowledge in the scientific and rational application of fertilizers by farmers, and the one-sided emphasis on production volume, the problem of pesticide residues in fruit and vegetable products in China is relatively serious. Pesticide residues are related to food hygiene and safety, and currently, various parts of the world are very sensitive to this matter

Secondly, it started late. Specifically, the product level is low, the proportion of processed products in annual production is small, and the quality is poor. Specialized, standardized, and standardized production is just beginning. The appearance, size, shape, color, uniformity, and essential quality of fruits and vegetables, such as sweetness, minerals, vitamins, and taste, differ greatly from capitalist countries. The high-quality rate of fresh fruits is only 1/3, and many types are not suitable for production and processing, resulting in low juice yield and poor taste, Only 5% of the total output value of fresh fruits can participate in global competition.

The third is trade friction. The characteristic of fruit and vegetable products in China is that they are large in quantity and low in price. While providing high cost-effectiveness to customers in importing countries, they are very easy to impact the local fruit and vegetable industry chain. In China, issues such as pesticide residues and pest control in fruit and vegetable products provide excellent excuses for foreign investors to set trade barriers. Therefore, in the past two years, trade frictions related to fruit and vegetable products in China have continued.

The fourth is vicious price competition. Export companies do not share resources in intermediate data and compete to obtain order information, which has caused negative harm to the export of fruits and vegetables in China. Director Yu Taiwei said that competing to negotiate prices will inevitably reduce the profits of export companies, thereby affecting their steady development.