Take you into the Chinese garlic trade

More than 2,000 years ago, Zhang Qian went on a mission to the Western Regions and brought garlic back to China. It was very popular among the people, and the people began to cultivate and grow garlic. Garlic is not only a common edible vegetable and condiment, but also has medicinal effects such as detoxification, swelling, and dysentery. Today, China has become the world's largest garlic producer, with an output of 20.757 million tons in 2020, accounting for 74.0% of the global total.

What is the current export situation of Chinese garlic?

China is currently the world's largest exporter of garlic products. China's garlic exports mainly include primary processing products such as garlic, dried garlic and processed garlic flakes, and there are fewer intensively processed products. In 2021, China will export 2.16 million tons of garlic products, of which 1.916 million tons of garlic will be exported, accounting for 71.1% of the global total; 230,000 tons of dried garlic will be exported, accounting for 78.8% of the global total; 14,000 tons of processed garlic will be exported, accounting for 66.7% of the total global exports.

Chinese garlic is mainly exported to Southeast Asian countries. The top five export markets in 2021 are Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Among them, Indonesia is 563,000 tons, accounting for 29.4% of total exports; Vietnam is 229,000 tons, accounting for 12.0% of total exports; Malaysia is 141,000 tons, accounting for 7.4% of total exports; the Philippines is 91,000 tons, accounting for total exports 4.7%; Thailand 81,000 tons, accounting for 4.2% of total exports.

Garlic is one of the single agricultural products with the greatest foreign exchange earning capacity in China. In 2021, China's export of garlic products will earn 2.66 billion US dollars. As the main production area and export area of garlic in my country, Shandong regards the garlic industry as an important channel for the rural population to increase their income and become rich.

What are the main problems facing the Chinese garlic trade?

One is the lack of voice in international pricing. China is rich in garlic resources, but the pricing power for export is in the hands of foreign importers, and the export price is significantly lower than the world average export price of garlic. From this point of view, China has not fully transformed its abundant garlic resources into a market advantage. Chinese garlic export enterprises have scattered production capacity and weak bargaining power, so they cannot form a unified price. At the same time, some enterprises lower prices to open up the market, and there is a certain vicious competition.

Second, the added value of export products is low. Chinese garlic products are mainly raw materials and primary product processing. Garlic processing is mainly fresh garlic, garlic slices, dehydrated garlic products, pickled products and other garlic primary products. The garlic processing chain is too simple, with technological content, added value, and by-product utilization. Low. The proportion of deep processing products such as garlic oil and allicin is low, and the deep processing fields of biopharmaceuticals, health food and cosmetics are hardly involved, so they cannot gain a competitive advantage in the international market.

How to turn the resource advantages of garlic into economic advantages?

It is of great significance to increase the export price of garlic and drive farmers to increase their income to achieve industrial prosperity and promote rural revitalization.

The first is to establish an authoritative and unified information release system. Accelerate the construction of a garlic big data release platform covering the entire industry chain, establish a market-centered garlic market information collection, research and judgment, and release mechanism, release reference prices for garlic product exports based on actual supply and demand conditions, form external synergy, increase corporate profits, and strengthen The discourse power and competitiveness of my country's garlic industry in the world.

The second is to fully tap the potential value of garlic. Garlic has rich nutritional value and medicinal value. Allicin, garlic oil, deodorized allicin health drinks, garlic polysaccharides, garlic capsules, fermented black garlic and other functional foods are the development direction of garlic intensive processing. Strengthen the innovation capability of garlic deep processing technology, lengthen the industrial chain, increase the added value of garlic products, and promote high-quality garlic products to the world.

Source:Agricultural trade promotion