Xi reporter Hu Lingling Reporter Zhang Qi.
Recently, the group of "grain customers" who flew to South Korea with grain from China in the form of a group has attracted attention. On December 18, the reporter came to Qingdao Jiaodong Airport for a field visit, and did not find any passengers carrying a large amount of food at the check-in counter for flights to South Korea. The staff of Qingdao Jiaodong Airport Customs told reporters that because grain has inspection and quarantine requirements, it is not allowed to be carried at will when entering and leaving the country.
A "food customer" recruiter said that the recent inspection at Qingdao airport has been stricter, so the focus has shifted to flights from Beijing and Shanghai to South Korea. A man who used to work in this industry said that he could earn 1,000 to 2,000 yuan for a round trip, and the outbound trip mainly carried cash crops, and the return trip ** Korean cosmetics and other goods, and the grain flow generally went to Koreans in South Korea. Due to the risks and fierce competition, he believes that "food customers" are a "sunset industry".
Visiting the airport: no large number of "food customers" were found
A few days ago, there was a ** report that when a tourist took a flight to South Korea at Qingdao Jiaodong Airport, because his hand luggage contained a large amount of food, he was detained at the boarding gate due to overweight, and the man smashed his luggage on the spot, causing the flight to be delayed for more than an hour.
According to industry sources, these passengers are called "food passengers", and most of them go to South Korea in the form of groups with food, mainly concentrated in Qingdao Jiaodong Airport, where South Korean flights are more intensive.
On December 18, the reporter came to Qingdao Jiaodong Airport for a field visit, and did not find any passengers carrying a large amount of food at the check-in counter for flights to South Korea.
The reporter consulted the customer service of Qingdao Jiaodong Airport on this matter, and the operator said that there has only been a case of delay in the plane due to the overweight of the food carried recently, and whether passengers can carry food out of the country and other issues need to be confirmed with the customs.
A staff member of Qingdao Jiaodong Airport Customs told reporters that grain is a plant seed and a kind of propagating material, and the grain in the luggage cannot be confirmed to carry various germs. If it is traded through formal channels, the grain needs to be inspected and quarantined by the customs and health departments, and after arriving at the destination, the local customs will also re-inspect the grain.
If passengers are found to have food in their luggage when they leave the country, they will generally be educated, and some 'sailors' have been engaged in these jobs for a long time in order to earn the difference, and will be dealt with according to the law according to the situation. If a passenger enters the country and finds food in his baggage, the cargo will be detained. The staff member added that such acts are suspected of violating the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China and the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China. If there is a conflict between passengers and staff due to carrying food, and the flight order is disrupted, it will be handed over to the airport public security for handling.
The reporter learned that the "List of Prohibited Items from Entering and Exiting the People's Republic of China" stipulates that the prohibited items include animals, plants and their products with dangerous germs, pests and other harmful organisms, and the prohibited items include endangered and precious animals, plants (all including specimens) and their seeds and propagating materials. In the "List of Animals and Plants and Their Products Prohibited from Being Carried or Mailed into the People's Republic of China", seeds (seedlings), seedlings and other plant materials with reproductive ability are listed.
On December 18, the reporter came to Qingdao Jiaodong Airport and did not find any passengers carrying a large amount of food.
Former "food customer" self-report: You can earn 1,000 yuan for a round trip.
The reporter found posts recruiting "food customers" on multiple social platforms, and Li Nan (pseudonym), the recruiter of "food customers", said that the recent inspection at Qingdao Airport has been strict, so the focus of work has shifted to flights from Beijing and Shanghai to South Korea. His team is currently mainly recruiting people who can take a boat from Weihai to South Korea to "bring goods", carrying peanuts, soybeans, mung beans and other grains on the way out, and cosmetics, shoes and bags and other products on the return trip, with an income of 5,000 to 7,000 yuan a month, and the goods will be prepared in advance by a special person, without purchasing by themselves.
Li Nan revealed that the difficulty of "bringing goods" by plane is much higher than that of shipping, and it will also involve the question of whether they will "bring goods", which contains many skills, "Some people bring ten batches of goods, and may be detained eight batches of goods." ”
Wang Jie (pseudonym), who has been engaged in this industry, believes that "food customers" are commonly known as "water customers" and "backpackers" in the industry, and their essence is similar to **. Due to the fierce competition among peers, profit margins are gradually compressed, and there are certain risks, which can be called a "sunset industry".
When you go to South Korea, you can bring some food, and the return trip is mainly Korean cosmetics, and you can earn about 1,000 to 2,000 yuan for a round trip, and you can earn 50 yuan for the difference in the price of a large bag of grain, but the main profit ** still depends on the return trip. Wang Jie began to work more than 10 years ago, he said that "food customers" are a group of people who have existed since the beginning of **, but there are very few simple "food customers", because the food is too heavy and not easy to carry, most people prefer to take Chinese tobacco and alcohol to South Korea to trade.
Wang Jie told reporters that most people bring cash crops, such as chili beans, mung beans, soybeans, and peanuts. And these grains are not necessarily purchased locally in Qingdao, most of them are mailed by the team. As far as he knows, the flow of food is to some Korean restaurants that the team contacted in advance, and it will not flow into channels such as Korean farmers' markets, and many buyers are ethnic Koreans in South Korea.
On social **, there are many posts recruiting "food customers".
Expert interpretation: South Korea should reduce overprotection.
Wang Lei, director and professor of the Department of International Development Cooperation of the School of International Economics and Trade of Shandong University of Finance and Economics, analyzed that South Korea, as a peninsula country dominated by mountainous terrain, has geological environmental conditions that determine the congenital disadvantages of agricultural development. However, in order to protect its own industry, South Korea has long implemented higher import tariffs and other agricultural protection measures, which has further exacerbated the predicament, and also provided large profit margins for "grain customers", so that these people are willing to take risks.
In the short term, the immediate impact will be mainly on aviation safety, and special regulatory measures will be needed to address this phenomenon, such as increased baggage screening at airports, as well as greater cooperation with Korean airports. Wang Lei believes that in the long run, South Korea should liberalize control, reduce excessive protection, and give full play to the innate geographical advantages of China and South Korea to carry out cooperation.
According to South Korea's "**" report, data from Statistics Korea show that South Korea's grain self-sufficiency rate in 2000 was still 309%, but in 2020 it has dropped to 193%。South Korea has repeatedly set targets to increase its food self-sufficiency rate, but all of them have failed.
At present, South Korea is dependent on imports for most of its major food crops, except for rice, which has a self-sufficiency rate of nearly 93%. As of 2020, South Korea's wheat self-sufficiency rate is only 08% and 30 for soybeans4%。