Chao News client Written by Shen Lin.
The high price difference has given birth to a batch of grain "downside".
Recently, a ** went viral on the Internet, a tourist took a flight to South Korea at Qingdao Jiaodong Airport, because there was a large amount of food in his hand luggage and was stopped at the boarding gate, the man smashed his luggage angrily, and the staff had an argument, resulting in a flight delay of more than an hour.
It is understood that passengers carrying a large amount of grain to South Korea are not alone, and there are even food "dumps" that travel to and from China and South Korea every day in domestic flight hub cities such as Qingdao Jiaodong Airport and Beijing Daxing Airport.
Human flesh "carries grain to South Korea, what kind of business experience is behind the grain "dumping master"?What are the legal risks and security risks?Recently, the reporter conducted an investigative interview.
Screenshot of the online transmission**.
"Left hand" beauty, "right hand" food
At about 9 o'clock in the morning on December 19, on the international departure floor of Qingdao Jiaodong Airport, in addition to the check-in counter, there is also a place that is also very lively: the luggage scale next to the baggage packing counter.
Hey!Super. A young passenger, staring at the numbers on the scales, then grabbed two handfuls of black beans from the package on the luggage scale and put them in a handbag on the side until the number on the luggage scale dropped below 23kg. Another open 24-inch suitcase was stuffed with peanuts and red dates.
Coincidentally, after a while, three or four more people came to the luggage scale, weighing one by one, and the three or four open suitcases were also filled with all kinds of grains, including red beans, mung beans, peanuts, red dates, millet, and so on.
Recently, it has been strictly controlled, and it is not okay to exceed one or two. A passenger in line for weighing came forward to talk, and he told reporters that he is a professional **, going back and forth between China and South Korea, at least three or four times a week, and more than one or two times a day.
*The category is also fixed. From China to South Korea, the first is rice, red dates, peanuts and other agricultural and sideline products;When I came back from South Korea, I was looking for beauty, luxury bags, clothes, shoes and hats.
Passengers weigh themselves on the luggage scale at Qingdao Jiaodong Airport.
Wu Gang in the team opened his WeChat, and his WeChat introduction was, "* Korean clothing, luxury cosmetics and household appliances", he said that in recent years, Korean consumers have a demand for Chinese goods, especially Chinese agricultural and sideline products, and he himself has seen business opportunities and began to do two-way**.
A staff member serving in the airport lobby told reporters that passengers on international flights with food can meet more than a dozen a day, and even a tour group of people travels in groups.
It is understood that airlines have restrictions on the weight of checked and carry-on luggage, taking Shandong Airlines economy class as an example, passengers on international flights can only carry 1 piece of small luggage below 5kg, and there are two pieces of free allowance of 23kg for checked luggage, and there will be additional charges for exceeding, with a maximum weight of 32kg. In addition, if you have a Gold Card or Platinum Card, you can add one additional piece of baggage. In this way, a single person can carry up to 101 kg of luggage.
Others** told reporters that the boarding gate is generally not weighed, and some ** will take risks with luck, and some hand luggage even has 30 kilograms, and one person carries two bags on the plane.
Food "poured" is not only at the airport. According to South Korea's Incheon Port Corporation, the Incheon-Weihai route runs three times a week, carrying an average of about 120 passengers each time, 30% of whom are Chinese**. Yonhap News Agency said that China** brought sesame, pine nuts and other agricultural products into South Korea for sale, and then bought cosmetics and electronic products and other goods in South Korea and sold them to China, earning the price difference.
Suitcases full of grain on the international departure floor of Qingdao Jiaodong Airport.
With high profits, the "fallen masters" are desperate
What kind of business is behind the cross-border transportation of human flesh?
During the interview, the reporter learned that there are two kinds of grain "masters". One is to resell and sell the grain ** between China and South Korea to earn the price difference;The second is to transport goods for buyers and sellers in China and South Korea to earn the best service fee.
The reason why the "fallen master" worked tirelessly and the "human flesh" moved grain was related to the recent rise in food in South Korea.
First of all, South Korea's food security problem is prominent. South Korea is a country where land is scarce for agricultural cultivation, and at present, the per capita arable land area of South Korea is only 0034 hectares, which is the lowest level among OECD countries. In addition, South Korea's grain self-sufficiency rate has declined sharply in recent years, and it is a typical net importer of grain.
In addition, affected by the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, South Korean prices, especially food**, have been on an upward trend since the beginning of last year. According to Yonhap News Agency, the "Consumer Price Trends for November 2023" released by Statistics Korea on December 5 showed that the consumer consumption index (CPI) was 112 in November74, year-on-year **33%。The year-on-year increase in CPI has exceeded 3% for four consecutive months since August. Among them, agricultural products **136%, the largest increase since May 2021, pushed up overall prices by 057 percentage points.
South Korean online shopping platform Gmarket
On the South Korean gmarket online shopping platform, the reporter searched and found that the ** of 5kg of hulled peanuts produced in China was as high as 358 yuan, while the domestic ** was about 80 yuan, which was 4 times higher;5kg of Chinese-made rice is sold for more than 200 yuan in South Korea, and the same type is only 40 yuan in China.
If you carry 100 kilograms of peanuts for a single person, you can make a net profit of more than 5,000 yuan in a single trip. The flight from Qingdao to Seoul has 10 flights a day, the whole flight takes about 1 hour, and the air ticket ** is also very discounted, with a total of about 800 yuan for a round trip. After deducting the cost of air tickets and accommodation, the profit of a single trip is as high as 3,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan. In this way, full-time ** can earn about 100,000 yuan a month.
With the blessing of high profits, some companies specializing in international express delivery and customs clearance also see this "business opportunity". In the warehouse of a Sino-Korean international logistics company, the reporter saw piles of various grains, including millet, red beans, peanuts, black beans, dried peppers, etc. "Sellers generally ship four or five tons of grain to store in the warehouse, and then ship small quantities multiple times according to demand, sending 10 to 20 orders a day. ”
The staff told reporters that in order to avoid "risks", it is recommended to mail them in small quantities and many times. The "risk" he refers to comes from the phytosanitary regulations of the Korean Customs. According to the Plant Quarantine Act of the Republic of Korea, the import plant quarantine certificate issued by the person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Quarantine is required to bring the required plants, seeds and other products into the country. "The weight limit of a package is 5kg, if it is overweight, it is easy to be confiscated by the Korean customs, and you need to pay a plant quarantine fee of 60 yuan for plant quarantine. If the final agricultural product does not meet the entry standards, it will be confiscated and will not be released. ”
*Originated from the Internet.
Legal risks and safety hazards
In fact, the risks that may be encountered by grain "overthrow" are not limited to phytosanitary conditions.
* Behavior wanders on the edge of customs inspection and market supervision, involving tax declaration, tax payment, food safety supervision and illegal business and other issues are very complex, if you are not careful, you will "step on the thunder".
For example, when entering the customs in China, failure to pay or underpayment of taxes will be classified as "tax-related smuggling". Baggage and articles carried into or out of the country by individuals and articles mailed into or out of the country shall be limited to a reasonable quantity for personal use. "Self-use" means that the passenger or the recipient uses or gives gifts to relatives and friends for himself/herself, rather than for ** or rent;"Reasonable quantity" means the normal quantity determined by Customs on the basis of the circumstances of the passenger or recipient, the purpose of travel and the length of stay.
If the total value is less than 5,000 yuan, the customs will release it duty-free. Those who bring excess consumer goods into the country must take the initiative to declare to the customs and accept customs inspection. Zhang Jianqi, a lawyer at Zhejiang Wulian Law Firm, said that if the goods and articles carried into the country reach a certain amount and are not declared, and the amount of tax payable is evaded to a certain extent, it may violate the criminal law and constitute the crime of smuggling ordinary goods.
According to the relevant provisions of China's Criminal Law, if the tax payable for smuggling goods or articles reaches 100,000 yuan, or if the smuggling of ordinary goods or articles is given a second administrative punishment for smuggling within one year, it will be convicted and sentenced according to the crime of smuggling ordinary goods and articles, and if the tax payable for evasion is particularly huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, they may face fixed-term imprisonment of more than 10 years or even life imprisonment, and will also be fined or confiscated property.
Qingdao Jiaodong Airport, Shandong Airlines' carry-on baggage weight regulations.
The same is true for customs entry in South Korea. According to the relevant regulations of the Korean Customs, if the value of the carry-on items exceeds 600 US dollars, it must be declared to the customs officer, and all animals and plants and their products must be quarantined at the airport and port of entry at the time of entry.
At the same time, overweight cabin baggage will also lead to risks such as damage to cabin equipment and hidden loading of flights, endangering flight safety.
Hidden loading, simply understood, is that the aircraft is overweight. It is understood that before the flight takes off, the load balance must be calculated by qualified load balance personnel according to the actual load of the aircraft, so as to ensure that the actual weight and center of gravity of the aircraft are within the allowable range and shall not exceed the maximum take-off weight. Checked baggage, cargo, mail and jet fuel weight are all equipped to be physically weighed, but since the weight of passengers and their carry-on baggage is generally not measured, the standard average weight of passengers is generally used in the industry to calculate the load balance. Taking China Eastern Airlines as an example, the average weight of international short- and medium-haul routes** is generally calculated as 75kg, including the weight of hand luggage.
An aviation industry insider told reporters that for Airbus A319, A320 and A321 models, before the flight cabin is shut down, if there is a change in baggage and loaded cargo, etc., if it exceeds 375 kg, it is necessary to recalculate, make and send a new version of the manifest, and the crew must also modify the take-off weight parameter settings.
If there are 30 food "masters" on a flight, and each person carries 50 kilograms of excess baggage into the cabin, the extra weight will be more than 1 ton, and this is not within the calculation range of the stowage personnel. Hidden load of the aircraft may cause the aircraft to take off and run too long, take off and wipe the tail, or the aircraft is too heavy to pull up and deviate from the runway, or the center of gravity is not within the limit, which will lead to a safety accident that destroys the plane and kills people in serious cases.
For example, in October 2004, a British MK Airlines Boeing 747-200F freighter crashed during takeoff from Halifax, Canada, due to load balancing problems.
The industry also said that at present, the industry adopts the method of manual and system parallel processing to prevent aircraft from concealing loads and control and manage potential safety hazards in advance. At the same time, each airline has set up a special stowage monitoring seat, and according to the interception time of each airport, it will conduct another manual review and inspection after the flight interception, so as to realize the double-line review and inspection of the system and personnel to ensure the accuracy of the operation data.
*Please indicate the source".