Auto & Transportation

More than two months since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has happened to be the picking season for some broccoli varieties in Taizhou, Zhejiang. "From February 1st, personnel can no longer move. Until February 8th, about 15,000 mu of mature broccoli was rotted in the field because it was too late to harvest." Linhai City Broccoli Industry Association, Taizhou, China Chief Li Zhenglong told the reporter of "Global" magazine that when the domestic epidemic broke out, "there was a shortage of workers and roads were blocked", which was an important reason for the serious damage to the broccoli industry.

Nowadays, the same story is being played out all over the world: the transportation of vegetables from Africa to Europe or the transportation of fruits from South America to the United States is disrupted, and labor shortages cause crops to rot in the fields; spring is coming in Europe, but the border closure hinders the normality of foreign workers Mobile, farms are rushing to find enough workers to pick strawberries and asparagus; in India, a wider range of crop losses are approaching, wheat and other major crops are about to be harvested, and the return of a large number of workers has caused shortages in farms and markets.

When the epidemic continues to spread around the world, the cross-border (border) trade of Chinese food and agricultural products is being impacted, especially the export of fresh vegetables and fruits and the products supplied to the catering industry are more affected. In addition, some countries have issued import bans on Chinese food in consideration of the food safety risks posed by the epidemic-challenges are testing Chinese food foreign trade companies.

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The first thing the export of agricultural products has to face is the problem of transportation channels. Take the export of broccoli as an example. From the farms’ fields to the warehouses of fruit and vegetable cooperatives, to transportation and loading, to the factories of quick-frozen food companies, and finally to the ports and docks. When the epidemic occurs, every link will face a checkpoint, not only transportation and With rising labor costs, there is also the issue of whether it can pass through smoothly.

Jiang Fuchu, a Hongri Supply and Marketing Company in Ruoheng Town, Taizhou City, said, “In the few days after the Spring Festival, one end of the broccoli was too late to harvest and could not be shipped out; the other end was broccoli raw material from Yinhe Food Company in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Don’t come in. The two trucks are at the Xiaoshan-Shandong Expressway not far away from the factory, but without a pass, they can only be pulled back intact. They lost more than 100,000 yuan when they came and went."

The "other end" Jiang Fuchu said-Zhejiang Yinhe Food Co., Ltd., is an export-oriented food processing enterprise specializing in the production of quick-frozen vegetables and quick-frozen prepared foods. The annual production capacity is more than 40,000 tons, and the annual sales income is 100 million yuan, of which exports account for more than 70%. It is one of the largest quick-frozen vegetable export enterprises in Zhejiang Province. Its products are sold to Japan, Europe, America, Australia, South Korea, Southeast Asian countries, as well as China Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions.

Because of the difficulty in transporting raw materials during the epidemic, the company immediately sought help from relevant departments in the economic development zone, agriculture and rural areas, economy and information, and transportation. With the efforts of various parties, the issue of the permit was immediately resolved in coordination. On the other hand, “the relevant departments of Taizhou City, where the vegetable raw materials are provided, have also begun to take action to solve the traffic problem in Taizhou for the transportation of broccoli.” Li Zhenglong said.

On the one hand, Taizhou Customs uses real-time tracking of broccoli production trends, knows the company's declarations in advance in the WeChat group of broccoli companies, and arranges personnel to connect in advance; on the other hand, it releases the permit as soon as possible. It adopts the method of verifying the existing test results, that is, the report will be released immediately, and the certificate will be issued on the same day, so as to avoid delays in the export of broccoli to the greatest extent.

When broccoli encounters consignment problems at the wharf or port, Taizhou Customs will contact and coordinate relevant departments and promote the application of Hangzhou Customs "Customs Enterprise Interactive Platform" in enterprises.

Wang Lijuan, director of the sales department of Zhejiang Yinhe Food Co., Ltd., told the reporter of "Global" magazine: "With the timely resolution of the raw material transportation problem, the company's subsequent production capacity recovery is also strongly supported. After the gradual resumption of work in March, there is an increasing trend of orders." Wang Lijuan now reads Concerned about the subsequent impact of the foreign epidemic on the company, “After the outbreak of the foreign epidemic, orders have been delayed. Imports are also generally faced with greater pressure on capital turnover. For example, the domestic catering industry has been slow to recover after the holiday. Our company has more than a dozen containers. Imported green beans are still stranded in the port."

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"New coronary pneumonia is not a food-borne disease, but an animal-borne disease, which is mainly spread through respiratory droplets or close contact with patients, not food." Chen Junshi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and general counsel of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, said that so far According to the past experience of SARS and MERS and the development of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in China, there is no scientific evidence on the spread of the new crown virus through food.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also stated that there is no evidence that food imported from China is at risk of spreading new coronary pneumonia. Even if the new coronavirus may exist on the surface of food or packaging, the amount of the virus will not be large enough to cause human infections. It is not recommended to take some overly vigilant regulatory measures on food.

Despite this, the epidemic once affected the imports of Chinese food by some countries, especially in February this year, when some countries issued temporary import bans on Chinese food. Some overseas customers of companies have expressed concerns about the safety of Chinese food.

Shandong Weifang Zhongkang Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. encountered this problem. Zhongkang Agriculture is Japan’s largest supplier of sushi and ginger slices. The company’s chairman Wang Bin said: “In the face of the epidemic, foreign customers are very worried about the health of our employees and food safety. As a company, we are under great pressure.” It is reported that in Weifang, there are 27 export-oriented food pickling enterprises like Zhongkang, and they have generally encountered the problem of insufficient confidence in foreign businessmen.

After learning about this situation, Weifang Customs began to take action to increase the original 4 key control points to 5 in the company's food safety management system. "Simply put, it is to use a cotton swab to sample the hands, work clothes, shoes and boots, and work surfaces of the employees for microbiological tests to verify the health of the employees, so as to prevent sick or bacteria-carrying employees from entering the production process. ."

Su Baole, Chief of the Bonded Business Supervision Section of the Weifang Customs Office in Zhucheng, said, “Take the indicator of the total number of bacteria in sushi ginger slices as an example. Japan’s import standard requires no more than 10,000 per gram. We can guarantee the total number of bacteria in our products. It is controlled below 500 per gram, which far exceeds the requirements of Japanese quality standards."

Wang Xiaojie, President of Japan Everbright Trading Co., Ltd. said, “In addition to testing the body temperature of workers when they enter the site, the practice of companies such as Zhongkang to conduct bacterial inspections on products, such as processing, will make Japanese customers feel more at ease. "It is reported that due to timely disposal, all 27 export-oriented food pickling enterprises in Weifang have resumed work and production, and the output is basically the same as the same period last year.

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Some industry insiders and experts worry that the epidemic will have a greater impact on small and medium-sized food foreign trade companies.

Luo Yunbo, honorary vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology and director of the Special Food Research Center of China Agricultural University, said that due to the unpredictability of emergencies, the advantages and disadvantages of enterprises and the internal differentiation of the food industry have been magnified. Companies with abundant cash flow and strong strength have advantages in terms of speed of resumption of work, market stability, and talent attraction. After the epidemic, the industry will face a new round of reshuffle, forming the Matthew effect.

The new crown pneumonia epidemic has brought an impact on the operations of many small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises face problems including the rate of income decline, survival time, and cost payment pressure, making it difficult to survive. "Said Patrick Wall, former chairman of the European Food Safety Authority and a professor at the National Emergency Center for Covid-19 in Ireland.

If you make preparations before the onset of the crisis and build a platform for group development, the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to resist risks will be significantly improved. According to Feng Qiao, the financial director of Shandong Rongcheng Taixiang Group, this preparation includes at least two levels.

The strategic preparation is based on the research and judgment of the international food trade environment. "With the rapid development of the food processing industry in Southeast Asia and other places, the tendency of industrial transfer to appear, and the addition of labor costs and other factors, China's traditional food processing and export enterprises have encountered different degrees of difficulties, and overseas market shares and profit margins have been compressed, which forced companies to seek Change. In the past 20 years, we have accumulated a lot of experience in food processing, including the establishment of a quality management system, but sales are passive. We only produce on the basis of orders from foreign markets. We are only a production enterprise. In the next 20 years, we The plan is to develop into service trade." Feng Qiao said.

As a food group under the jurisdiction of more than 30 companies, Taixiang mainly produces products including fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, shrimp, and shellfish, which are exported to Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States and other countries and regions. It is understood that thanks to the rich experience accumulated in exploring overseas markets, Taixiang is now exploring through "grouping", seeking cluster development, enhancing collaboration, and driving the transformation and upgrading of Weihai small and medium-sized food companies.

"In the past, we must have competed in the same industry. Now we have established a platform to turn this competition into a form of cooperation and sharing." Feng Qiao said that Taixiang tried to establish the name "Royal Mahan". The integrated foreign trade service platform brings more small, medium and micro import and export enterprises to this platform.

"We provide them (import and export enterprises) with third-party foreign trade services." Feng Qiao said, "This kind of service is not only reflected in foreign trade links, such as customs declaration and inspection, export tax rebates, etc., but also provide them with value-added services, including production The unified procurement of links, the standardization of quality management system, the planning of the terminal market, etc. This brings them the benefits of reducing costs, increasing speed, and solving the difficulties encountered in foreign trade, which also reflects the'Internet + "Foreign trade' thinking." Feng Qiao said, now there are more than 160 companies serving on the foreign trade comprehensive service platform.

Feng Qiao told the reporter of "Global" magazine, "The purpose of the comprehensive foreign trade service platform of'Huangchao Mahan' is to gather more small, medium and micro enterprises to create a joint force for warmth and cope with the competition in the international market.

As soon as the new crown pneumonia epidemic appeared, ‘Huang Chao Ma Han’ actively responded, realized resource sharing, and helped small, medium and micro enterprises to solve practical difficulties:

For example, collecting domestic and foreign information, providing timely warnings for small and micro enterprises, and working with CITIC Insurance to warn customers of uncollected payments, helping a company solve the problem of delays in payments by Greek customers;

Help companies solve the problem of resuming work and production, and provide them with sources of temperature guns, masks, etc.;

Contact a number of banks to help companies solve funding problems, and helped small and medium-sized enterprises in total loans of more than 13 million yuan during the epidemic;

Share customer resources and help companies solve the problem of importing more than 2,000 tons of raw materials and sales of finished products. "

The preparation at the tactical level involves the preparation of original and auxiliary materials and active communication with customers. Feng Qiao said, “The impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on enterprises is mainly reflected in the shortage of material supply and slow logistics and transportation, and the stable supply of raw and auxiliary materials is a guarantee for normal resumption of work. Because the company has formed advance deduction and planning of orders over the years. The company will purchase and store raw and auxiliary materials for about 3 months in advance according to the order plan every year before the holiday to ensure the need to resume work and production after the holiday. With the further control of the epidemic and the resumption of production in related industries, the epidemic is The company's operations and production have no impact."

Feng Qiao said that in the early stage of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the company communicated with foreign customers on the epidemic situation in a timely manner, and notified customers about the company’s prevention and control measures and resumption of work measures. They have gained the understanding and trust of customers, and they have not withdrawn or transferred orders. Orders and towed orders ensure the stability of the company's orders.

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Some experts suggest that under the circumstance that the global epidemic continues to spread, food foreign trade companies can actively explore the domestic market. In this regard, Zou Xiaoyong, general manager of Shaoxing Lurong Food Co., Ltd. took his own company as an example to analyze, "There are certain difficulties in transferring exports to domestic sales:

First, Chinese consumers are not very welcome to quick-frozen vegetables. The company currently sells some broccoli domestically. The customers are mainly schools and large-scale catering companies in big cities. However, schools have not yet opened, and fast-food companies such as McDonald's and KFC have not recovered. Normal business;

Second, the price of exports is higher than that of domestic products, which cannot be accepted at home. Third, we often do foreign trade, do not know the domestic market very well, and domestic demand is limited, and our annual export volume is 30,000 tons. "

Zou Xiaoyong said that the company is currently opening up markets along the “Belt and Road”, but it also faces many challenges.

"Lurong Foods has a history of exporting quick-frozen vegetables for more than 20 years. Although affected by economic and trade frictions in 2019, Lurong Foods still maintained a good export trend, with exports reaching 30,000 tons. In addition, quick-frozen vegetables have a two-year shelf life, and we still have There is room for maneuver, but the cost of logistics and storage has greatly increased. At this time, it depends on the company's anti-risk ability and financial strength. At present, we can still manage it by the end of the year. We are the first batch of 100 local companies to resume work. One of them, the government pays more attention to us, because the development of our enterprise affects tens of millions of farmers." Zou Xiaoyong said.

Cao Derong, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal Husbandry, introduced that from January to February this year, China’s agricultural exports were 9.49 billion U.S. dollars, down 11.6%; imports were 24.66 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 5.1%. Although both are higher than the average level of foreign trade, they are lower than the growth rate of import and export of agricultural products in the same period last year. The foreign trade of agricultural products is facing huge internal and external pressures.

In this case, how should food and agricultural export companies respond? Li Xiande, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, made some suggestions. "It is necessary to encourage enterprises to expand the diversified international market for agricultural products. Continue to accurately implement the relief policy, guide the export agricultural product supply chain to recover as soon as possible by zoning and grading; accelerate the implementation of advantageous agricultural product export promotion actions, and encourage more enterprises to apply for international certification and accreditation. Expand the export market of advantageous agricultural products; make overall plans for the promotion of agricultural products after the epidemic is over, and organize more companies to participate in overseas exhibitions."

Li Xiande said that special actions to facilitate cross-border trade of agricultural products should be further carried out, customs clearance procedures should be simplified, and customs clearance costs such as ports and inspection and quarantine fees should be reduced. Fully provide legal consultation and legal relief services, support enterprises to use relevant laws and international rules, especially make good use of force majeure and changes in circumstances, avoid legal risks and respond to disputes through litigation, arbitration, mediation and other channels, and protect their legitimate rights and interests to the greatest extent , Reduce economic losses.