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China's Ministry of Commerce is aiming to slow the annual growth rate for
farm produce exports from 8.3 percent over the past decade to seven percent by
2010 in order to raise quality.
This "moderate objective" written into
the first Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) for farm produce exports was far below the
17.7-percent annual growth rate of China's total exports.
The government
also hopes to see its farm produce worth 38 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.
Last year, the country earned 27.2 billion U.S. dollars from farm produce
exports, representing 3.6 percent of total exports and 3.2 percent of the
world's total farm produce trade.
"We hope the slower growth will allow
farmers to grow better quality farm produce and raise the sector's
competitiveness in the world market," said Lu Jianhua, director of the
ministry's foreign trade department.
The ministry has set a rigid target
for processed farm produce to exceed 50 percent of the total farm produce trade
by 2010.
To realize the goal, the Ministry of Commerce urged eastern
provinces to enhance capital and technical input into export-oriented processing
companies. Central regions, China's traditional granary, were encouraged to
increase productivity and grow more quality farm produce. Western China
was positioned as "the new growth area" with potential in developing specialty
produce such as organic vegetables and Chinese herbs.
Under the plan,
China will explore emerging markets in the Middle East and Russia while
consolidating trade with traditional partners like Japan and the Republic of
Korea.
Markets such as the European Union and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations would also be explored.
Lu said an important
task during the five-year period was to establish and optimize a support system
for farm produce exports. Measures would include fiscal and taxation policies,
export insurance, bank loans and customs clearance privileges.
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