Shandong Agricultural Products Exports: Growth, Problems and Countermeasures

This paper analyses the reasons of the export growth for the Shandong agricultural products which can be attributed to the Shandong agricultural export enterprises’ efforts and Shandong provincial government’s strong supports. Though Shandong agricultural products exports achieved a big success all over the China, there are still some internal problems and external constraints that hinder its further and sustainable developments. Existing main problems for the exports of Shandong agricultural products include poor export product structure, too concentrated specific export markets, small enterprise scale, disordered competition among Shandong enterprises and seriously lagged behind agricultural products branding and marketing network construction. The external constraints for the exports of Shandong agricultural products such as the fast appreciation of the RMB, the rise in the cost of domestic production, new form of international trade protection from EU and Japan and some unexpected events against the normal development of Shandong agricultural exports. Therefore, it is essential to put forward countermeasures to further improve the quality of agricultural products, establish the multi-level export promotion system, foster leading enterprises, support brand-building, maintain the key markets and expand new markets, absorb more FDI and establish more trade associations to develop Shandong regional agricultural products exports in a sustainable way.