Analysis On The Measurement And The Influencing Factors Of Competitiveness Of Apple Products In Henan Province

Apple is one of the four major fruits in the world and is playing asignificant role in the international fruit markets. Since 1992, China has become thelargest country of apple production. With the entry into the WTO, apple has becomeone of seldom agricultural products with certain international competitiveness inChina. Therefore our country and big provinces of apple production attach greatimportance to its exportation. Henan is one of the biggest provinces of appleproduction in China. Henan apple's cultivated area, the total output and the yield perarea are all in lead. Besides the excellent advantages of natural conditions such as thesoil, climate etc. in tow preponderant areas (Western Huangtu Plateau PreponderantAreas and Eastern Old Yellow River Preponderant Areas), Henan province enjoyssome social and economical conditions as well as scientific and technical conditionswhich are good for the development of apple industry. However, the development ofapple exportation in Henan province not only falls far behind the development of itsproduction, but also lags behind other major provinces of apple production in China.According to the topic of "a big province of apple production, but a small province ofapple exportation", the paper takes the export scale of Henan apple as the researchobject and applies comparative analysis, normative analysis and positive analysis todo the study, based on the foundation of the comparative and competitive advantagetheory.Firstly, the paper elaborates the current situation of apple exportation (including the apple and its processed products, especially the apple juice) in Henan province from three aspects-the total value and quantum of exportation, the structure of export goods and the direction of the export goods. Secondly, the international competitiveness of apple in China's major provinces of apple production has been measured by multi-indices. Though the comparison, the result shows that there is a remarkable growth of the international competitiveness of Henan apple in 2004 and 2005, but the gaps between Henan and Shandong or Shaanxi province are still obvious. Thirdly, the paper analyzes the reason of the small scale of Henan apple's exportation from 2 levels. From the direct influencing factors of competitiveness level, the research finds out that the weak competitiveness of Henan apple is mainly effected by the non-price factors such as the low quality, the poor configuration in variety and the low safety. Henan apple has a less production cost which proved that the scale of apple exportation is not restricted by the production cost. Nevertheless, the paper notices that the fertilizer and pesticide have been input in a high proportion in Henan apple production. Then, from the support system of competitiveness, the paper explores the deeper-level factors which limit the advancement of exportation. The analysis carries out though 4 aspects, that is the demand condition, the production condition, the circulation condition and other export related support. Comparing the circumstances of Henan with Shandong and Shaanxi province, the shortages of Henan are no grasping the import demand; no making full use of the scientific and technological progress to improve the products' quality, diversity and safety; short of strong dragon head enterprises to organize apple planting; the low commercialization ability, the insufficiency of refrigeration in storage and transportation, the complex circulation steps; lack of the marketing measures owning to the poor capability of the organizations in circulation areas; and devoid of the export-related assistant measures in quality supervision, market exploitation and information consulting and so on. In the end, on the basis of the above analysis, some suggestions have been put forward as following: optimizing the structure of input agricultural production factors, controlling the rise of the total production cost; enhancing the supporting strength of agricultural technique, advancing the apple products' non-price competitiveness; strengthening the ability of the circulation organization, guaranteeing unblocked export channels; increasing government's support in relevant export affairs so as to promote the development of exportation of Henan apple.