Recently, international movement measures that may be causing tension between the of cargo had been the subject of increasing border control needs for security and the needs for trade facilitations. On the one hand cu...Recently, international movement measures that may be causing tension between the of cargo had been the subject of increasing border control needs for security and the needs for trade facilitations. On the one hand customs authorities are charged with the responsibility for policing a country＇s borders, and consequently they need to have in place measures to ensure that only legitimate trade takes place and that this trade does not present security concerns. On the other hand we have the requirements of traders, who benefit from an environment of trade facilitation with speedy and efficient movement of cargo across international borders, with minimal bureaucratic intervention. This paper focuses on and provides early discussion and comments on the possible ramifications of the introduction of the 24-hour rule in China, effective for all exports and imports of sea freight container traffic since January 1, 2009. The new rules will have significant impact on the logistics flows of exporters and importers alike. Specifically, the reporting requirements timelines are likely to result in increased costs in cargo processing at wharves that traders will have to bear; place added pressure on storage facilities at wharves, or at container depots; and may additionally increase the amount of inventory buffer because of the timing of the data reporting requirements. The paper concludes that security needs have prevailed over trade facilitation considerations and that traders should urgently implement a review of existing practices to ensure they comply with the China Customs requirements, whilst simultaneously minimizing cost increases.展开更多
With intense urbanization and sustained population growth, securing food production with limited land sources has increasingly become a pressing issue. Based on an analysis of international cereal(i.e., barley, buckwh...With intense urbanization and sustained population growth, securing food production with limited land sources has increasingly become a pressing issue. Based on an analysis of international cereal(i.e., barley, buckwheat, maize, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, soybean, and wheat) trade and differences in yields of the cereal between export and import countries over the period of 2007 to 2011, we explore the great potential of land saving through the international cereal trade. By ‘land saving', we refer to the reduced global total of lands required to produce a necessary amount of cereal when cereal is exported from a country with relatively large yield of the cereal to a country with relatively small yield of the cereal. Our scenario analysis suggests that international cereal trade would help mitigate the shortage of domestic arable land for many island countries(e.g., Japan) and countries in the arid Middle East and North Africa(e.g., Syria and Morocco). Furthermore, international cereal trade has the potential to generate ‘land saving' of 50,092,284 ha of land per year, which is roughly the size of Spain. Drawing upon the definition of a similar concept – virtual water(Hoekstra and Hung 2002), we define virtual land as the area of land resources used for the production of goods. Through introducing the concept of virtual land, we believe land resources that are traditionally considered as stationary resources can flow with anthropogenic socioeconomic activities. The largest virtual-land flows(> 3,000,000 ha/year) exist between the United States(US) to China, Brazil to China, the US to Japan, the US to Mexico, and Argentina to China. However, not all virtual-land flows necessarily result in land saving. Thus, more endeavors are needed to plan the virtual-land flows for a larger land saving at the global scale.展开更多
文摘Recently, international movement measures that may be causing tension between the of cargo had been the subject of increasing border control needs for security and the needs for trade facilitations. On the one hand customs authorities are charged with the responsibility for policing a country＇s borders, and consequently they need to have in place measures to ensure that only legitimate trade takes place and that this trade does not present security concerns. On the other hand we have the requirements of traders, who benefit from an environment of trade facilitation with speedy and efficient movement of cargo across international borders, with minimal bureaucratic intervention. This paper focuses on and provides early discussion and comments on the possible ramifications of the introduction of the 24-hour rule in China, effective for all exports and imports of sea freight container traffic since January 1, 2009. The new rules will have significant impact on the logistics flows of exporters and importers alike. Specifically, the reporting requirements timelines are likely to result in increased costs in cargo processing at wharves that traders will have to bear; place added pressure on storage facilities at wharves, or at container depots; and may additionally increase the amount of inventory buffer because of the timing of the data reporting requirements. The paper concludes that security needs have prevailed over trade facilitation considerations and that traders should urgently implement a review of existing practices to ensure they comply with the China Customs requirements, whilst simultaneously minimizing cost increases.
基金National Social Science Foundation of China,No.15CGL078
文摘With intense urbanization and sustained population growth, securing food production with limited land sources has increasingly become a pressing issue. Based on an analysis of international cereal(i.e., barley, buckwheat, maize, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, soybean, and wheat) trade and differences in yields of the cereal between export and import countries over the period of 2007 to 2011, we explore the great potential of land saving through the international cereal trade. By ‘land saving', we refer to the reduced global total of lands required to produce a necessary amount of cereal when cereal is exported from a country with relatively large yield of the cereal to a country with relatively small yield of the cereal. Our scenario analysis suggests that international cereal trade would help mitigate the shortage of domestic arable land for many island countries(e.g., Japan) and countries in the arid Middle East and North Africa(e.g., Syria and Morocco). Furthermore, international cereal trade has the potential to generate ‘land saving' of 50,092,284 ha of land per year, which is roughly the size of Spain. Drawing upon the definition of a similar concept – virtual water(Hoekstra and Hung 2002), we define virtual land as the area of land resources used for the production of goods. Through introducing the concept of virtual land, we believe land resources that are traditionally considered as stationary resources can flow with anthropogenic socioeconomic activities. The largest virtual-land flows(> 3,000,000 ha/year) exist between the United States(US) to China, Brazil to China, the US to Japan, the US to Mexico, and Argentina to China. However, not all virtual-land flows necessarily result in land saving. Thus, more endeavors are needed to plan the virtual-land flows for a larger land saving at the global scale.
