AmCham China calls for increased cooperation with China

AMCHAM China is seeking greater cooperation with China on agriculture.

The chamber highlighted several areas of cooperation between the U.S. and China in this field in a new report titled “Working Together to Improve Chinese Agricultural Sustainability.” It also stressed the need to boost efforts to ensure access to safe and affordable food for Chinese consumers.

AmCham China members are calling for substantial steps to continue opening up the agricultural sector. Instead of further restrictions, they are advocating for the national government to extend the relaxation of some restrictions on foreign investment in the distribution of some agricultural products in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone to the rest of the country.

The chamber lauds the progress achieved in the drafting of Seed Law revisions, acknowledging the importance of reforms in speeding up modernization in the seed industry. It hopes the revised Seed Law will treat all industry participants, including foreign-invested seed companies, equally.

Further, AmCham China is seeking the elimination of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on US poultry imports. At a minimum, members are asking to China to give US exporters the opportunity to reduce these duties through interim reviews.

The organization noted the positive development for bilateral trade and for the entire industry of the government’s recent import approvals of biotech corn and soybean products after lengthy delays. It called attention, however, to increasing delays and unpredictability in China's GMO import approval process. This slows down the adoption of new technology by growers in America and threatens the commodity trade to China. With innovation needed in the agricultural industry, a predictable, transparent, and science-based regulatory approval system in China is crucial to allow the growing pipeline of safe and innovative GM products to reach growers and markets.

Chinese counterparts have expressed concerns about market access for certain Chinese agricultural products in the US AmCham China urges U.S. authorities to adopt a science-based approach to Chinese requests for U.S. market access for meat, fish, cooked products, and produce to promote a more robust and mutually beneficial US-China agricultural trade.

Recommendations

For the Chinese Government:

-Reduce barriers to foreign participation and investment in agriculture, in particular by removing more agriculture-related industries from the Restricted and Prohibited Categories of the Foreign Investment -Catalogue and from the negative lists for the Shanghai FTZ and the BIT.

-Improve the efficiency and predictability of antitrust review by streamlining the review process and eliminating non-antitrust factors.

-Remove unscientific restrictions on the importation of U.S. beef, poultry, pork, and GMO products.

-Improve the speed, fairness, and transparency of the seed registration process.

-Improve the speed, fairness, and transparency of the agricultural equipment subsidy registration process for the MOA's equipment procurement catalogue, both at the national and provincial level.

-Eliminate anti-dumping and countervailing duties on U.S. poultry imports or, at a minimum, give U.S. exporters the opportunity to reduce these duties through future interim reviews.

-Increase cooperation with U.S. companies to enable Chinese farmers to produce food more sustainably and in line with global best practices and help reduce the cost of safe food for Chinese citizens.

For the US Government:

-Work with Chinese officials through bilateral dialogues, including the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and U.S.-China BIT negotiations, to address investment restrictions faced by U.S. agriculture producers.

-Employ a science-based approach to Chinese requests for market access for meat, fish, and produce, including cooked poultry, apples, pears, and catfish.

-Engage in bilateral dialogue, workshops, and in-depth scientific exchanges to support the implementation of transparent, science-based regulatory systems, transparent and WTO-compliant agricultural trade policies, and open market access and investment opportunities in China.

-Work with the MOA to hold the second U.S.-China Agricultural Symposium in 2015.

Download the report Working Together to Improve Chinese Agricultural Sustainability.

(Photo from AmCham China)