What is the performance of agricultural product trade between China and other RCEP member countries in the past three years

The "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) came into effect on January 1, 2022, marking the official launch of a free trade zone with the largest economic and trade scale, the largest population, and the most diverse member structure in the world. How was the trade performance of agricultural products between China and other RCEP member countries in the first three quarters?

The overall agricultural product trade between China and other RCEP member countries has grown rapidly

In the first three quarters, the overall trade volume of agricultural products between China and other RCEP member countries reached US$79.28 billion, a record high in the same period, an increase of 15.6% year-on-year, which was 5.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of trade volume between China and the world during the same period. Among them, the export value was 31.42 billion US dollars, an increase of 15%, and the growth rate was 6.7 percentage points higher than that of the same period of the previous year; the import value was 47.86 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.1%, and the growth rate was 9.4 percentage points lower than that of the same period of the previous year; the trade deficit was 16.44 billion US dollars, The expansion was 18.1%, and the growth rate was 63.7 percentage points lower than that of the same period of the previous year. Although the trade deficit of agricultural products between China and other RCEP member countries has expanded, the growth rate has slowed down sharply, and the trend of trade balance is improving.

The status of other RCEP members in China's agricultural product trade has improved

In the first three quarters, the total agricultural product trade between China and other RCEP member countries accounted for 31.9% of the total agricultural product trade between China and the world (Figure 1), an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the previous year, reversing the trend of continuous decline since 2019. Among China's top ten agricultural product trading partners, the number of RCEP member countries has increased from 6 to 7 in the previous year, namely Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Among them, Malaysia once again ranks among my country's top ten agricultural product trading partners after a lapse of 7 years.

Figure 1 The proportion of agricultural products trade between China and other RCEP member countries in the world in the first three quarters

China's trade in agricultural products with other RCEP members has increased

In the first three quarters of this year, the trade volume of agricultural products between China and all other RCEP member countries increased, with Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia registering a big growth rate of 93.4%, 67.2%, 29%, 27.6%, 27.4% and 27.1% respectively (Table 1). Among them, the export of agricultural products to New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore grew faster, by 51.7%, 41.5%, 32.9% and 31.8%, respectively. The import of agricultural products from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Australia grew faster, by 1.8 times, 93.2 percent, 54.1 percent and 25.4 percent, respectively.

Table 1 Agricultural trade between China and other RCEP members in the first three quarters

China's trade in major agricultural products with other RCEP member states has grown

In the first three quarters of this year, China's major agricultural exports to other RCEP member states were aquatic products, vegetables, fruits, livestock products and beverages, with the value of exports reaching US $8.76 billion, US $6.6 billion, US $2.74 billion, US $1.73 billion and US $1.07 billion, respectively. In addition to the 19.3 per cent decline in fruit exports, the exports of aquatic products, vegetables, livestock products and drinks increased by 18.1 per cent, 15.4 per cent, 18.9 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively. China's major agricultural imports from other RCEP member states are livestock products, fruits, vegetable oils, aquatic products and grains, with a value of 13.21 billion US dollars, 8.53 billion US dollars, 4.62 billion US dollars, 4.58 billion US dollars and 3.07 billion US dollars, respectively. In addition to vegetable oil imports, which fell by 7.4 per cent, imports of livestock products, fruits, aquatic products and cereals increased by 6.8 per cent, 0.3 per cent, 38.1 per cent and 68 per cent respectively (Table 2).

Table 2 Main trade categories of agricultural products between China and other RCEP member states in the first three quarters

Source:Agricultural trade promotion