The novel coronavirus pneumonia has continued to be delayed since the Spring Festival, which has blocked the development of most industries and has not spared the export of tea. Recently, China Chamber of Commerce for import and export of food, native produce and animal husbandry has investigated the relevant situation and sorted out as follows:
Problems in tea export
According to the survey, most of the tea export processing plants failed to start on schedule, resulting in the original signed export orders, especially those from western countries, could not be delivered on schedule. In terms of transportation, shipping companies have announced plans to suspend shipping in February, involving Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia Africa, the United States and other routes, as well as many domestic port shipping companies. There are also many problems, such as the arrangement of import and export goods, the extension of shipping schedule, and the regulations on the berthing of ships at various ports.
In addition, domestic transportation has been restored, but the freight is relatively high, and the freight on some sections has nearly doubled. In general, due to the need of epidemic prevention and control, the current flow of personnel and the allocation of means of production are not smooth enough, and the progress of returning to work and production is different in different regions. Part of the external passenger and freight transport channels are blocked, increasing the cost of enterprises. The spring tea picking and processing of export enterprises concentrated in April and may, which started later than domestic enterprises, and may be less affected by the epidemic. If the epidemic can not be completely controlled in a short time, it will have a great impact on the production and sales of spring tea exported throughout the year.
Foreign businessmen's attitude towards importing Chinese tea
Foreign businessmen are very concerned about the development trend of the epidemic situation in China. Most of the customers understand and accept the order delay, but some customers are very anxious and hope that the Chinese side will deliver the goods as soon as possible. At present, there is no cancellation of orders, but we are very cautious about the contracts under negotiation, and even suspend them temporarily. However, the China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of food, native produce and livestock also received positive news. The president of the American Tea Association recently sent an open letter to all its members. The letter mentioned that the association assessed the risk of human virus infection of imported tea products based on the following three points:
1. Tea: as the transportation time from the origin to the destination is generally long, the risk of transmission is very low;
2. Spray drying extract: due to the high temperature during spray drying, the risk of transmission is very low.
3. Liquid extract: most liquid extracts are pasteurized or UHT sterilized, so the risk of transmission is almost zero.
The assessment concluded that novel coronavirus was not necessary to spread through imported tea products. The evaluation conclusion of the American tea association fully reflects the scientific and responsible attitude, and is a kind of trust and support for Chinese products. China Chamber of Commerce for import and export of food, native produce and livestock will also further strengthen contact and communication with the international tea industry, understand the dynamic situation of the international market, positively publicize the effective progress of China's fight against the epidemic situation, and timely inform enterprises of the information, so as to boost the confidence of tea export.
Strategies and methods to deal with the impact of epidemic situation
Enterprise: strengthen communication and coordination, resume production as soon as possible
In the near future, tea enterprises will face many problems after returning to work, such as shortage of labor and materials, rising cost pressure, incomplete recovery of industrial chain and so on. First of all, according to the principles of science, rationality, moderation and effectiveness, we should formulate and implement targeted measures of epidemic prevention and production at the same time, further enhance the ability of epidemic prevention and control, and prevent the occurrence of aggregated epidemic; second, we should strengthen communication and coordination with the upstream and downstream enterprises of the domestic tea industry chain, and promote the normal operation of the industry chain. At the same time, we should strengthen the contact and communication with foreign customers, actively carry out the work of increasing credit and resolving doubts, find out the foreign market situation and foreign trends, and stabilize their confidence in trading cooperation.
Industry organization: strengthen external publicity and communication
First, the chamber of Commerce always keeps close contact with enterprises, understands the problems encountered in the resumption of work and production, and helps enterprises solve the difficulties;
The second is to actively carry out public relations with foreign countries, express China's strong measures and full confidence in overcoming the epidemic, and look forward to meeting with global tea people in China as soon as possible;
Third, in view of the negative impact of individual countries' doubts about Chinese tea, the chamber of Commerce of food and soil should timely convey correct and positive information to tea enterprises, such as the content of the open letter from the American tea association to its members, so as to enhance the confidence of enterprises;
Fourthly, the chamber of Commerce for food and soil has been working unremittingly to deal with international trade barriers, always paying attention to the latest changes of pesticide residues in tea in key markets such as the European Union, and conducting exchanges and cooperation with domestic and foreign government departments and relevant institutions to seek more reasonable and effective ways to solve the problem of pesticide residues;
Fifthly, the fourth international tea industry annual conference, the Eighth International Tea Industry Conference and the second international green tea conference originally scheduled to be held in the middle and late March of this year will be postponed. The chamber of commerce is consulting with relevant departments and consulting the industry at home and abroad to announce the time of the meeting.
Export outlook in 2020 under epidemic situation
In 2020, China's tea export faces both challenges and opportunities.
Challenges:
First, affected by the epidemic, spring tea picking and listing are delayed, which has a negative impact on the annual production and sales of enterprises;
Second, although Morocco has implemented the new standard of pesticide residues in tea last year, this year's implementation tends to be strict, which will be the most uncertain factor in the overall trend of tea export in the whole year;
Third, the United States has implemented a 15% tariff on the import of Chinese tea since September 1, 2019. Although the tariff was lowered to 7.5% on February 14 this year, compared with the zero tariff implemented before September 1 last year, it is still a trade barrier, which has played a role in restraining exports to the United States. In addition, the EU tea pesticide residue standard is still the biggest obstacle for China's tea export to Europe, and the tea market in Russia and Japan continues to be depressed.
Opportunities:
First, after the outbreak, the market released a huge demand for health consumption. Tea is the representative of health drinks, and the health function of Chinese tea has been unanimously recognized by professionals and consumers, which is a development opportunity for tea enterprises;
Second, the establishment of May 21 as "international tea day" by FAO will stimulate and drive tea consumption worldwide, which is also an important opportunity to promote Chinese tea and tea culture;
Third, for more than 20 years, the chamber of Commerce has been committed to promoting China's tea trade, promoting China's tea and tea culture through platforms such as the international tea industry conference, and promoting the development of trade through culture;
Fourthly, the tea events held every year in China's tea producing areas spread the concept of six kinds of tea and the health benefits of tea, planting "tea seeds" in people's minds;
Fifthly, China's tea enterprises are also accelerating the transformation and upgrading, increasing scientific and technological research and innovation, and improving the core competitiveness of products to cope with the complex and changeable market risks.
