Machinery / Industrial Parts & Tools

With the work of preparing for spring ploughing entering a critical period, 14 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce recently issued the Notice on Ensuring the Supply and Stable Price of Spring Farming Fertilizers in 2023, which proposed to actively and steadily do a good job in the storage and import and export regulation of fertilizers, and optimize and improve the import and export work. At the same time, ports around the country are also carrying out the customs clearance of agricultural materials imported from international trade such as agricultural machinery, seeds and fertilizers in an orderly manner.

Industry insiders believe that China's import of agricultural materials and agricultural machinery has maintained a rapid growth in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue this year. Under this guarantee, the work of preparing for spring ploughing this year will be carried out in an orderly manner.

Stable situation of fertilizer supply guarantee

The best plan for a year is spring, and the best scenery for a year is spring ploughing. With the warmer weather, the preparation for spring ploughing has gradually entered a critical period, and the international trade import of spring ploughing agricultural means and machinery has also continued to rise. In recent days, ports and ports around the country have been working hard to carry out customs clearance and transportation security of agricultural materials such as fertilizers.

Since January, the inbound quantity of agricultural means and agricultural machinery products carried by China Europe trains returning from the Alataw Pass and Khorgos railway ports in Xinjiang has increased. According to the statistics of the railway department, in January, 66000 tons of fertilizer were imported from Alashankou Port, and 89000 tons of potash fertilizer were imported from Khorgos Port. These fertilizers are mainly produced in Belarus, Uzbekistan and other countries. After entering China, they are mainly sold to Chongqing, Jiangsu and other places in China.

In Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, potash fertilizer in Laos accounts for more than 50% of the chemical fertilizer transportation volume of the national ports, which also guarantees the fertilizer demand of Lianyungang Port radiating into the hinterland of Longhai-Lanzhou New Line. It is reported that Lianyungang Port imports more than 1.3 million tons of various chemical fertilizers such as urea, potassium chloride, diammonium phosphate, etc. every year, among which the import of potassium fertilizer ranks among the top among the coastal ports in the country and is one of the important import and export ports of chemical fertilizer in the country. The chemical fertilizer imported from Lianyungang Port is mainly transported to Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi and other major grain-producing areas.

Zhou Yue, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the Potash and Potash Industry Branch of the China Inorganic Salt Industry Association, said that fertilizers are mainly divided into three categories: nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer and potassium fertilizer. "At present, domestic nitrogen fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer can basically achieve self-sufficiency, but potassium fertilizer still needs to be imported in large quantities. Due to multiple factors such as the international situation, the price of fertilizer will hit a record high in 2022."

The data shows that in 2022, China's main imported fertilizer products are mineral potash fertilizer and chemical potash fertilizer (HS3104), with an import volume of 4.32 billion US dollars, accounting for 87.2% of the total import of fertilizer products. The second is the mineral or chemical fertilizer (HS3105) containing two or three fertilizer elements in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with the import value of US $600 million, accounting for 12.1% of the total import of fertilizer products.

Yang Jun, director of the Digital Economy Laboratory of the University of International Business and Economics, said that in 2022, China's import of chemical fertilizer products increased significantly, with an import volume of 4.95 billion US dollars, an increase of 79.2% over 2021, far higher than the average annual growth rate of 4.5% in 2017-2021.

"In 2017-2021, the average import price of China's fertilizer products was relatively stable, fluctuating around US $0.3/kg. In 2022, the average import price of fertilizer products rose to US $0.6/kg, more than double that of 2021. In the same period, the import volume of fertilizer products fell by 2.2%. It can be seen that the significant increase in the import volume of China's fertilizer products in 2022 was driven by price factors," Yang Jun said.

"However, since November 2022, with the expansion of domestic production scale of potash fertilizer, the price of potash fertilizer has gradually stabilized." Zhou Yue further said that at present, the situation of guaranteed supply of fertilizer for spring cultivation this year will be significantly eased compared with last year, and it is expected that the import of potash fertilizer in 2023 will also achieve further growth.

International trade import of agricultural machinery further increased

In addition to fertilizer and other agricultural materials, there are also a large number of agricultural machinery and equipment to declare at ports at the beginning of each year. A few days ago, Tianjin Xingang Customs quickly released two imported combine harvesters through the "green channel", and the equipment was quickly transported to the enterprise, which was put into agricultural production to ensure spring cultivation.

It is understood that as of February 23, Tianjin Customs has released 64 imported agricultural and animal husbandry machinery with a value of 64.1172 million yuan this year.

The data shows that the main agricultural machinery products imported by China in 2022 are harvesters, threshers and mowers (HS8433), accounting for 52.1% of the total agricultural machinery imports; The second is the production or processing machinery (HS8438) for the food and beverage industry not listed in other categories, accounting for 30.6% of the total agricultural machinery imports. The international trade imports of the top two agricultural machinery products account for more than 80% of China's total agricultural machinery imports.

"On the whole, China's agricultural machinery imports have maintained a rapid growth in recent years. Among them, agricultural machinery imports mainly come from developed countries such as Europe and the United States, focusing on large high-end machinery such as harvesters and threshers." Yang Jun said.

Yang Jun further said that in recent years, the import of harvesters, threshers and lawn mowers (HS8433) has increased significantly, with the import volume increasing from US $330 million in 2017 to US $650 million in 2022, with an average annual growth of 14.4%, which is higher than the import growth of all agricultural machinery products. The import share of harvesters, threshers and mowers (HS8433) increased from 34.8% in 2017 to 52.1% in 2022, an increase of 17.2 percentage points.

In addition, Germany and the United States are the main import channels of China's agricultural machinery products. In 2022, the trade volume of China's agricultural machinery imports from the two countries was US $210 million and US $160 million, respectively, accounting for 30.1% of China's agricultural machinery imports.

In response to this situation, Yang Jun suggested that with the improvement of China's agricultural production mechanization and scale, its demand for high-end machinery and advanced agricultural materials will further increase. While ensuring the smooth import of these products in international trade, it is also necessary to accelerate the research and development and manufacturing of domestic high-tech agricultural equipment and agricultural materials, so as to more effectively guarantee the needs of domestic agricultural production and transformation and upgrading.