Data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China's agricultural product exports reached 670.21 billion yuan, a 2% year-on-year increase. Over 830 types of products were exported to more than 220 countries and regions worldwide. With simultaneous growth in export volume, product diversity, and market coverage, agricultural exports have become a crucial pillar for stabilizing foreign trade and benefiting people's livelihoods.

Driven by policy support, technological cultivation, facility improvements, and business model innovation, China's agricultural exports have demonstrated robust growth in both volume and quality. Moving forward, stakeholders must further strengthen brand quality development, deepen international cooperation, and enhance risk prevention capabilities to ensure the sustained and healthy development of agricultural exports.

Quantity and Quality Rise in Tandem

Agricultural Exports Shine with Multiple Highlights

Dual drivers of policy empowerment and trade facilitation are the primary reasons behind the steady growth of China's agricultural exports. The national rural revitalization strategy and high-quality agricultural development plan provide systematic support for agricultural exports. Additionally, the implementation of free trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has effectively reduced agricultural trade costs through tariff reductions and trade facilitation measures.

The simultaneous growth in both volume and quality of China's agricultural exports also stems from cultivating specialty categories and expanding into emerging markets. China's agricultural exports are shifting from primarily raw products toward highly processed and branded goods. Leveraging diverse natural conditions, various regions have developed numerous specialty export categories. In Ningxia along the Yellow River basin, milk protein, fresh-preserved vegetables, and Zhongwei selenium-rich melons made their debut exports to Central Asia and the Middle East. Yunnan coffee has entered international markets with higher added value through premium processing and brand development. In terms of market layout, while consolidating traditional markets like the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, China has leveraged the Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP to sustain growth in agricultural trade with emerging markets in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, effectively diversifying market risks.

The expanding demand from emerging markets has significantly boosted China's agricultural exports. Through multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms like the Belt and Road Initiative, China's agricultural trade with emerging markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East has become increasingly robust.

The expansion into emerging markets relies on the steady improvement of China's agricultural supply base, processing capabilities, and logistics systems. Initiatives such as high-standard farmland construction and the promotion of green production methods have enhanced the stable supply of high-quality agricultural products. The refinement of quality standards and the establishment of full-chain traceability systems have helped overcome technical barriers in some developed economies, facilitating the entry of Chinese agricultural products into high-standard markets like the EU and Japan. Concurrently, upgrades in processing equipment and the expansion of cold chain networks have increased the proportion of deep processing and added value for competitive categories like fruits, vegetables, aquatic products, and prepared meals.

Digitalization and new business models have injected fresh momentum into market expansion. Emerging foreign trade formats like cross-border e-commerce have revitalized agricultural exports, becoming a new engine for growth in agricultural trade.

Collaborative Efforts Drive Continuous Optimization of Agricultural Exports

Moving forward, competition in China's agricultural exports will increasingly reflect comprehensive capabilities in rules, standards, branding, and distribution channels. Further efforts are needed in structural optimization, brand building, and international cooperation to enhance and elevate agricultural exports. To enhance the competitiveness of agricultural exports, it is essential to optimize the export product structure. While consolidating existing advantageous agricultural categories, production scale should be moderately expanded, and efforts accelerated to develop specialized, value-added processed agricultural products with higher added value, such as instant foods and nut-based processed goods. In terms of brand and quality development, domestic agricultural standards should be aligned with international norms, quality traceability systems improved, and quality stability of advantageous categories ensured. Leveraging high-quality agricultural trade development bases, greater support should be provided to regional public brands and leading enterprises to foster more geographically indicated products with branded, scaled, and internationalized advantages.

International exchanges and cooperation must be deepened. While consolidating traditional markets, opportunities should be seized through platforms like the Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP, as well as domestic and international exhibitions and supply-demand matching events, to further expand into emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, and Latin America. Deeply integrate into the global agricultural supply chain, strengthen cross-border e-commerce and overseas service centers, and enhance the efficiency and resilience of agricultural supply chains.

To further optimize and elevate China's agricultural exports, we must:

First, deepen supply-side structural reforms to build dual advantages in quality and innovation. Establish an agricultural standards system that is “domestically leading and internationally aligned,” actively lead or participate in setting international standards, with a focus on advantageous categories like aquatic products and fruits/vegetables.

Second, address weaknesses in the industrial chain to increase the added value of agricultural products. Relevant departments should intensify efforts to build infrastructure for cold chain logistics, warehousing, and preservation, establishing a comprehensive cold chain system covering production, transportation, and sales to reduce losses of fresh agricultural products.

Third, strengthen risk prevention and compliance capacity building. Relevant departments should establish a global agricultural trade monitoring and early warning platform, integrating multi-source data including meteorological, market, and policy information to anticipate risks such as trade barriers and price volatility. Concurrently, enhance corporate compliance training to guide enterprises in addressing technical trade barriers, encourage participation in international certifications like AEO and GMP, and elevate international market access capabilities.

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