By Wu Zhenjun, Research Team on “Strategic Agricultural Adjustments in the Context of High-level Opening-up”, Research Department of Rural Economy, DRC

Research Report, No.157, 2020 (Total 5901) 2020-6-24

Abstract: In recent years, China’s agricultural comparative advantages are gradually phasing out. Specifically, the price of land-intensive agricultural-products is seriously inversed, labor-fund-or-technology-intensive agricultural products see slower growth in exports, the agro-product competitive index has dropped, and agro-product trade deficits are swelling. This paper notes that the surge of production costs driven by resource endowments is the main determinant for China’s weakened agricultural comparative advantages. Labor-fund-or-technology-intensive agricultural products are mainly manipulated by labor costs, land-intensive agro-products are mainly driven by labor and land costs, while hogs and fishery products more by labor and land costs. It is necessary for us to strengthen agricultural infrastructure construction, develop agricultural science and technology, cultivate new types of agricultural business entities, reinforce international market development, and expand imports of feed grains such as corns, in a bid to lower the costs and enhance the efficiency of agriculture, improve the quality and added-value of agro-products, build up China’s agricultural comparative advantages and competitiveness.

Keywords: agricultural comparative advantages, agricultural competitiveness, production costs, prices, imports and exports