Create a brand with an excellent structure to promote high-quality and sustainable development of the food supply chain
——Speech at the “2023 4th International Conference on Food Supply Chain”
Cui Zhongfu, Vice President and Secretary General of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing
May 23, 2023
Dear guests from home and abroad:
good morning guys!
In this beautiful season when spring goes to summer solstice, thousands of trees are verdant and full of vitality, everyone is welcome to gather in Shanghai, the international economic center, to jointly hold the “2023 4th International Conference on Food Supply Chain”. Here, on behalf of the organizer, China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, I would like to express my warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to all the guests present. We hope that through this conference, we can gather consensus, pool our wisdom and efforts, and jointly explore new directions and paths for the development of the global food supply chain.
2023 is a year when the supply chain development of the global food industry chain is facing pressure challenges and opportunities for restructuring. On the one hand, the international economic and trade situation is still complicated and severe, and the game among global economies still exists. As an important part of global trade, trade in food materials also faces multiple uncertain and unstable factors. On the other hand, international and regional cooperation is becoming more and more prominent, and the multilateral trading system is becoming more and more open. The huge development potential released by this is highly anticipated. Actively promoting the collaborative and efficient construction of the global food supply chain and promoting the smooth and orderly development of global food trade has become a focus topic of common concern for all companies in all countries.
At this stage, the development of global food trade and supply chain presents three new trends:
1. Import and export of food materials “rising east and falling west”, stimulating new vitality in the food supply chain
The global food supply chain presents the characteristics of “friendliness” and “near shore”. The reshaping of regional supply chains led by Western developed economies has reduced the dependence on Chinese food supply, and the dependence of China’s food export on Western markets is passive. decline.
With the formal entry into force of the RCEP agreement and the facilitation of trade between China and ASEAN, the dependence of China’s import and export of food materials on ASEAN has actively increased. ASEAN has become one of the most active regions in the global food economy, and it is also China’s largest food trading partner. In 2022, the trade volume of food materials between China and ASEAN will be 61 billion US dollars, accounting for 18.4% of the total import and export volume. It is China’s largest export market and second largest source of imports of food materials.
The pattern of “rising in the east and falling in the west” will further stimulate the new vitality of the supply chain of the global food industry chain in 2023.
2. The focus of global food trade development has shifted, and China’s status has steadily improved
China is the world’s largest food consumption market, and it also has a quarter of the world’s food volume. In the context of slowing growth in global food trade, in 2022, China’s food consumption market will reach 15.5 trillion yuan. In the first quarter of 2023, the food consumption market will be 3.13 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. The demand continues to grow steadily, showing With a strong appeal, China’s food consumption market has performed brilliantly.
In 2022, according to the General Administration of Customs, the total import and export of food materials in China will be 334.32 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%. Among them: exports were US$98.26 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.5%; imports were US$236.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%; trade deficit was US$137.8 billion, an increase of 1.7% over the same period last year. The year-on-year decline in exports expanded while the year-on-year decline in imports narrowed, and the absolute levels were better than market expectations.
3. Under the dual cycle pattern, the dominant position of domestic demand appears
After splitting the volume and price of each category of food materials, it is found that in 2022, the import volume of meat will decrease by 21.0% year-on-year, the import volume of fruit will decrease by 7.5% year-on-year, the import volume of grain will decrease by 10.7% year-on-year, the export volume of aquatic products will decrease by 1.3% year-on-year, and the export volume of fruit will decrease by 1.3% year-on-year. The volume decreased by 7.9% year-on-year. The “recession-style surplus” is obvious. Facing the “shallow recession” of the global economy, it reflects the lack of domestic demand in China in 2022. China, which has got rid of the obstacles of the epidemic, has begun to highlight the pattern of domestic demand. From January to April 2023, the total import and export of food materials will be 111.71 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%. Among them, the quantity and value of imports of fruits, meat, and aquatic products have both increased.
To cope with changes in domestic demand, it is necessary to improve the construction of supply chain infrastructure, optimize supply chain costs, stabilize the supply of food materials, and support the dominant position of the internal circulation of food material consumption.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of the supply chain of the food industry chain. The “Twenty” report pointed out that efforts should be made to create a more innovative, higher value-added, and more competitive industrial chain supply chain. Establish a big food concept, build a diversified food supply system with overall planning of grain, economy and feeding, combination of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery, and simultaneous development of plants, animals and microorganisms, so as to achieve a balance between supply and demand of various foods. Improve the grain circulation system and enhance the ability to regulate reserves. And once again emphasized that it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other. The No. 1 Central Document in 2023 pointed out that it is necessary to give full play to the role of international trade in food materials and implement a strategy of diversification of food material imports.
Now that the development pattern has changed, in order to actively comply with the requirements of change, I propose the following four development directions:
1. High-quality development is the long-term requirement of the food supply chain
In 2022, the output of my country’s food materials will increase steadily. At least 16,000 new cold chain facilities will be added to food production areas, and more than 100 food industry parks will be added to a certain scale. Development, the food industry has gradually moved from the stage of looking for new incremental breakthroughs to the stage of high-quality new development.
After experiencing the impact of the epidemic, the safety monitoring of the entire food supply chain has been exposed to the public and has attracted much attention. my country’s food supply chain is still insufficient in terms of digitalization, technical capabilities and management levels, and the degree of standardization, industrialization, socialization, and quality is still high. There is a gap with developed countries. It is necessary to continue to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, establish an information mechanism for food safety management, safety guarantee co-governance and sharing, and further improve the quality and efficiency of international cooperation in food safety. Forming the quality of food materials can gradually reduce processing costs and management costs, and at the same time stimulate the better release of the potential of my country’s food material consumption, becoming a long-term driving force for economic internal cycle growth.
2. Brand building is the core of creating long-term value in the food supply chain
my country’s food supply chain enterprises have few brands, which deeply hinders the development of the industry. To improve the supply chain brand building, we must improve from the five dimensions of business flow, logistics, finance, technology and talents:
With the help of business flow, vigorously cultivate, support, and create supply chain innovation or demonstration brand enterprises. With the help of logistics, we will vigorously cultivate the backbone food supply chain brand enterprises and the construction of food industry parks, improve the service quality of the food supply chain, and improve the distribution network of food materials in the places of origin and sales. Financial support, focusing on brand building from financial services, improving the efficiency of capital use, and promoting the construction and development of the food industry. With the help of science and technology, “tens of billions of research and development, millions of technologies, and hundreds of companies vying to be the first” let technology help agriculture shift from incremental to stock, and use data to help production and marketing decisions, trace the whole process to build brands, and further integrate with the international community. Talent support, starting from the colleges and universities to provide supply chain talent support, cultivate professional talents, improve the reserve of human resources, and improve professional quality and management level.
3. The optimization of the import and export structure is the driving force for the reshaping of the food supply chain
From 2015 to 2022, my country’s food trade volume has doubled from US$175.77 billion to US$334.32 billion, with an average annual growth rate of about 12.6%. In terms of imports, high-quality food materials are becoming more and more abundant. In terms of exports, labor-intensive products such as aquatic products, vegetables, and fruits account for 92.2% of the export value, but only 5.1% of special high-quality and high-value food materials.
Optimizing the import and export structure of food materials and increasing the proportion of high-tech and high value-added food materials in imports and exports will help promote agricultural transformation and upgrading. On the one hand, expanding the technology chain of high-quality seeds and seedlings, advanced technology and equipment, and safe and efficient pesticides and fertilizers will better meet the needs of domestic consumption and the upgrading of the agricultural industry; The added value of exports will help to enhance the international competitiveness of my country’s food materials, create an international brand, and promote agriculture to move towards the high end of the global industrial chain value chain.
4. Green sustainability is the booster for the development of the food supply chain
The global green and sustainable development process has entered a critical juncture, and whether it is clean, low-carbon and efficient has become the main color of problem governance. China is also paying more and more attention to green and sustainable development. It will continue to promote the green transformation of traditional industries and the green and low-carbon development of energy, widely promote green production methods, and accelerate the construction of an economic system with green, low-carbon and circular development. Avoid the short-term problems of direct economic losses caused by extreme weather disasters and the long-term problems of restructuring the global industrial chain and supply chain.
As of 2023, about one-third of food production will be lost or wasted due to factors such as imperfect supply chain circulation. This part of the loss and waste and the greenhouse gas emissions generated by food supply chain activities can reach 4% of the world. Greenhouse gas emissions are one of the most important factors causing the climate change crisis. In order to avoid irreversible catastrophic events caused by climate change and alleviate the pressure on people’s livelihood, the green and sustainable development of the food supply chain is urgent and necessary.
Hard work makes success, and hard work can lead to long-distance. We are fellow travelers and fellow travelers. I believe that in the face of the crisis and opportunity of the restructuring of the supply chain of the global food industry chain, colleagues in the global industry will work together and go all out to seize new opportunities, resist pressure like a rock, and create “global collaboration and new value” new situation!