Posted on 01/02/2002 12:36:11 PM PST by super175
With many people expecting textile exports from China to soar as the mainland enters the World Trade Organisation, the amount of returned goods has risen dramatically.
Last month, 300,000 jackets were returned from Europe because the metal in the zips did not meet with European safety standards.
One of the biggest fears on the mainland is that once trade tariffs are lowered, other non-trade barriers will be put up.
Among those perceived as the most threatening is the ''green barrier'', a series of technical standards designed to protect the importing country's environment.
China knows a large amount of its low-cost products cannot meet internationally accepted safety and environmental standards, and so are vulnerable to such attacks.
At the recent 21st Century Green Economy Forum in Guangzhou, experts urged China to increase its awareness of environmental protection and so break through what has been seen as the green blockade imposed by developed countries. Already the mainland is feeling the crunch.
China used to have a major stake in the world market for tea leaves, but its sales took a heavy beating due to concerns that its teas contain pesticide residues and heavy metals which exceeded safety standards.
This has resulted in a 37 per cent decline in exports to Europe during the past two years.
This is despite the price of Chinese tea being slashed so it is 60 per cent lower than the Sri Lankan product, and 40 per cent cheaper than tea from India.
China considers developed countries want to use green claims as a new weapon to fight the ''Made in China'' label. According to the China News Service, the European Union has, since November, increased the number of tests on Chinese tea to look for 62 types of pesticide residue, where before there were six. The increased testing is a measure China considers unnecessary.
But the United States, Australia, Russia and Japan have followed suit by raising the entry barrier for Chinese tea citing food-safety concerns.
According to official statistics, US$7 million worth of mainland exports have been adversely affected by so-called green barriers.
China has more than 70,000 textile factories and only 17 have received the ''green certificate'' which allows their products to be exempted from stringent export inspection.
Other industries fare no better.
However, enhancing environmental awareness and quality of products is more than just the imposing of certain international standards, or the implementation of a few government initiatives.
Counterfeit ''green'' products are one of the challenges. A government survey in Shanghai and Guangdong found that among 250 products which claimed to be environmentally friendly, 89.6 per cent were fake.
Products with the highest fake rate are ceramic tiles, air-conditioning, synthetic carpets and furniture. In Foshan city, Guangdong, China's largest industrial ceramics centre, almost all factories claimed that their products were environmentally safe.
Consumers have been demanding harmless materials after incidents last year were exposed by the media in which interior design material was causing sickness especially leukaemia in children.
But Xinzhongyuan Ceramics, one the largest ceramic factories in the city of Shiwan said most of the claims of environmentally sound products were false.
The company is one of the few in the process of applying international environmental safety standards to its production processes.
It said no factories had so far received the ''green'' certificate for their products.
Xinzhongyuan's marketing manager said the company had experienced difficulties in entering the European market.
Most of its exports went to the Middle East and India, which recently filed anti-dumping complaints about mainland ceramic products.
Counterfeit ''green'' products have effectively sabotaged those who adhere to green manufacturing criteria.
As a consequence relatively expensive investments have resulted in scant economic reward.
In the final analysis, no company is willing to invest in green processes.
''The most effective way to promote a green economy and break the green barrier is to mobilise the market mechanism, which rewards those who comply and punish those who violate the rules,'' director of independent think-tank Unirule, Mao Yushi, told last month's forum.
''But that requires legislation that satisfies both environmental protection needs and national living standards.''
Analysts say the effort to break the export blockade based on environmental charges is futile until the mainland has a coherent approach towards the relationship between economic development and environmental protection.
What goes 'round comes 'round. The socialists can't do business with the communists 'cause the commies can't meet the over-regulated Euro-standards.
They're probably nice jackets too. Probably would retail for a few hundred dollars in the US stores. Next month, they'll be on sale in the Taiwan night markets (with the inside labels removed) for 1000 NT$ each (maybe $10 US).
Its possible that every other China bound shipment of lettuce, beans, asparagus, or whatever "will be tainted with _______" (fill in the blank here with whatever plant problem you can make up)
We already have that ongoing concern with the NAFTA trading partners. It's a tough nut. Either you stop all international trade, or you send inspectors to the ports to reject all non-compliant imports - making the standards either ridiculous or ridiculously unattainable. Remember the US rice that was legally condemned by Japanese inspectors because it wasn't refrigerated?
Whether any civilized nation should be doing business with China or not is a seperate issue. If you're gonna do business, it should be done in an honest and forthright manner. I imagine the European regulators are in a major fingerpointing swivet trying to explain the bad will shown to their Chinese trading partners.
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