Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Business
    Home / Business / China US trade tensions

    Californian farmers worry about future loss amid US-China trade dispute

    Xinhua | Updated: 2018-04-27 16:00
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A worker takes a sample from an incoming truckload of soybeans at Peterson Farms Seed facility in Fargo, North Dakota. [Photo/Agencies]

    LOS ANGELES - There's a palpable fear in California that the ongoing trade dispute between China and the United States could bring major losses to farmers here. "No shipments to China have been canceled yet, but, the new crop will be coming in August and if this disagreement isn't settled by then, it will have more impact on the new crop." Dave Phippen, a key member of the Almond Board of California, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

    Steep duties

    California grows 80 percent of the almonds consumed by the entire world, and the Golden State was responsible for all US almond exports in 2015 and 2016, according to data provided by California Department of Agriculture and Food (CDAF),

    Phippen agreed that California's almonds have dominated the import markets of China and even the world, but the co-owner of Travaille and Phippen, Inc, which has 1600 acres of almond orchards and a 70-worker processing plant, said that, facing the trade disputes between the United States and China, the industry practitioners "can not say we do not worry at all."

    The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong were the destination for 12 percent of the US almond exports, reaching a farm gate value of $518.1 million, said the CDAF.

    According to calculation of the Farmers for Free Trade, a bipartisan campaign to rebuild support for trade at the grassroots level, California's almond exports to China amounted to $184 million in 2017, and after China announced early this month a tariff on American agricultural goods including almonds in response to US duties on imported steel and aluminum in March, US almonds exported to China could see $28 million in potential additional duties.

    Another US commodity that could be hit by the trade dispute is pistachios, which could see $99 million in potential additional duties

    In the most recent shipping season, Chinese mainland and Hong Kong were the destination for 55 percent of the US pistachio exports, which were worth $660 million and were mostly from the states of California and Arizona.

    Overall, the volume of Californian products directly shipped to China is low, said a report published last week by Rabobank, a Netherlands-based food and agriculture financing and sustainability-oriented banking. About 4 percent of US fruit and nut exports and 2 percent of vegetable exports go to the Asian nation.

    But the potential loss of future income as the Chinese economy continues to grow is what really worries many Californian farmers.

    Hurting US farmers

    The Farmers for Free Trade on Tuesday released a report named "Farmers pay the price: steel & aluminum retaliation," which concluded that in a trade dispute, "American farmers are the first casualty," saying it will "incentivize trading partners like China to look to other markets for their imports. That means that trading relationships that took decades to develop can evaporate overnight."

    "And as many farmers and trade experts know, once you lose an export market it doesn't come back immediately. In fact, it often takes many years for trading relationships to recover," said the report.

    The Farmers for Free Trade and the California Farm Bureau hosted an event Thursday in Sacramento, which gathered farmers from across California and Secretary of the CDFA Karen Ross, to highlight the negative impacts of China's tariffs on California exports.

    Ross tweeted after the event, "Thank you Farmers for Free Trade and Farm Bureau for sponsoring an event to get the word out about the importance of international trade."

    The Almond Board of California has been expanding its business in China for over 20 years, spending more than $7 million in teaching chefs how the nut can be used as a food ingredient and developing among consumers a taste for almonds.

    "We've seen years of steady growth and we don't want to lose the great opportunity," Emily Fleischmann, senior director of global marketing for the group told Xinhua.

    Daniel Sumner, who leads the University of California-Davis' Agricultural Issues Center, expressed similar concerns, saying if the US-China trade standoff lasts too long, California exports could suffer long-term damage as the state will lose its reputation as a reliable source of agricultural products and end up benefiting US competitors.

    "Many in the nut industry and the fruit industry have put a lot of resources, time and efforts into providing information about the commodity and developing the market," said Matt McInerney, Western Growers' senior executive vice president. "They've done their diligence in going to China to promote it."

    Founded in 1926, the Western Growers is an organization representing local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico. The group claims that members and their workers provide over half the nation's fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

    Efforts like the Almond Board's have given California a reputation "a reliable supplier of healthy products," which "is crucial," Sumner told the Western Farm Press this week, adding that the Golden State's commodities could lose their sterling reputation "through no fault of their own."

    "It could take a while for California to regain customers it lost to competitors, even after the tariffs come down," he warned.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    CLOSE
     
    人妻无码中文久久久久专区| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区影院 | 久久ZYZ资源站无码中文动漫| 精品无码一区二区三区在线| 久久精品中文騷妇女内射| 67194成l人在线观看线路无码| 人妻丰满熟妇AV无码区HD| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线咪咕 | 亚洲精品无码日韩国产不卡?V| 无码国产精品一区二区免费3p| 亚洲福利中文字幕在线网址| 中文字幕无码久久人妻| 国产精品99无码一区二区| 四虎成人精品无码| 亚洲中文字幕不卡无码| 中文字幕亚洲无线码a| 在线中文字幕一区| 日韩精品久久无码中文字幕| 亚洲美日韩Av中文字幕无码久久久妻妇 | 无码日韩精品一区二区三区免费| 无码成人精品区在线观看| 最近中文字幕2019高清免费| 亚洲中文字幕不卡无码| 中文字幕日本人妻久久久免费| 无码欧精品亚洲日韩一区夜夜嗨 | 国产成A人亚洲精V品无码| 无码专区—VA亚洲V天堂| 中文字幕人妻无码一夲道| 国产精品99久久久精品无码| 国产成人无码免费看视频软件| 中文无码一区二区不卡αv| 中文字幕无码成人免费视频| 亚洲美日韩Av中文字幕无码久久久妻妇 | 亚洲AV无码一区二区乱子伦 | 国产精品99精品无码视亚| 精品无码人妻一区二区免费蜜桃| 无码国产精成人午夜视频一区二区| 亚洲Av综合色区无码专区桃色 | 精品无码日韩一区二区三区不卡| 精品久久久久久久无码| 成?∨人片在线观看无码|