Since 2021, in the face of the severe and complex international situation such as the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the rise of trade protectionism, and the accelerated restructuring of the international industrial chain and supply chain, China’s foreign trade has shown strong resilience, achieved rapid growth, and continued to promote high-quality trade development. In the first year of the “14th Five-Year Plan”, a dazzling “transcript” was handed in.
Shows a trend of rapid growth
Looking back on 2021, my country’s foreign trade has shown a rapid growth trend, and the monthly growth rate of foreign trade’s imports and exports has remained at a double-digit high year-on-year. In the first quarter, “the off-season is not weak”, the scale of foreign trade imports and exports, exports and imports all hit historical highs in the same period, and the growth rate of imports and exports hit a new high for the same period since 2011; the total value of imports and exports in the second and third quarters was 95,900 respectively Billion yuan, 10.23 trillion yuan, an increase of 25.2% and 15.2% respectively; in the first 10 months, the total import and export value was US$4.89 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 31.9%, and the scale exceeded that of last year, setting a new record high; In September, my country’s total import and export value was 35.39 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22%.
Experts in the industry generally believe that China’s prudent economic fundamentals firmly support the smooth operation of foreign trade. In the first three quarters of this year, China’s economy grew by 9.8% year-on-year, which was higher than the global average growth rate and the growth rate of major economies.
Cui Weijie, deputy dean and researcher of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with a reporter from China Trade News that China’s foreign trade situation this year has exceeded expectations. First of all, it has benefited from China’s full use of its institutional advantages and rapid and effective control of the epidemic. Enterprises resume work and production quickly, the industrial foundation for foreign trade development is good, and the supply chain is complete. Secondly, the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the practical difficulties in stabilizing foreign trade. The Ministry of Commerce has carried out a series of work in promoting the increase of container output, guaranteeing capacity and strengthening price supervision, and guiding local governments to introduce corresponding measures. Positive response. Third, the epidemic has caused a huge gap in supply and demand in the international market. China’s foreign trade supply chain system can quickly adapt to changes in international market demand, provide marketable products in a timely manner, and meet the needs of epidemic prevention, production and life in all countries and regions. At the same time, Chinese foreign trade companies have fully mobilized production resources, improved R&D and design levels, strengthened product quality monitoring, and exported a large number of high-quality consumer products.
In November, my country’s total import and export value was a year-on-year increase of 20.5%. Among them, exports were 2.09 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.6%, and continued to maintain high growth; imports were 1.63 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26%, a new high this year. Li Chunding, director of the Department of Economics and Trade of the School of Economics and Management of China Agricultural University, said that imports exceeded expectations. On the one hand, global inflation has raised import prices, especially the rising prices of agricultural products and energy, which led to an increase in imports. On the other hand, It is due to my country’s economic growth and the expansion of domestic demand that have brought about an increase in imports.
Continuous optimization of foreign trade structure
Cui Weijie said that my country’s foreign trade has not only hit a record high, but its quality has also continued to improve. In the first three quarters, the export of high-tech and high value-added products was strong. The export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 23%, accounting for 58.8% of the total export value, driving the overall export growth rate by 13.5 percentage points; cross-border e-commerce import and export, market procurement trade method export New business formats and new models of foreign trade maintained double-digit growth.
Take cross-border e-commerce as an example, from the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, the construction of digital ports, to the launch of cross-border e-commerce enterprise-to-business export pilots, from optimizing the supervision of cross-border e-commerce imported goods return and exchange, to vigorously building China and Europe For cross-border logistics and transportation systems such as freight trains and international shipping, relevant measures continue to optimize the business environment and promote the accelerated development of new business models and models such as cross-border e-commerce.
The reporter learned that more and more foreign trade companies are developing cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, and even use cross-border e-commerce platforms to directly connect with consumers and carry out personalized customization. Dai Yufei, vice president of Amazon global and head of Amazon’s global store opening Asia-Pacific region, believes that China’s export cross-border e-commerce industry and sellers have undergone a transition from “barbaric growth” to “intensive cultivation”, and cross-border e-commerce is becoming an important support force for China’s foreign trade.
In addition, my country’s foreign trade structure has been more optimized and the international market layout has become more diversified. In the first November, my country’s imports and exports to ASEAN, the EU, the United States, and Japan increased by 20.6%, 20%, 21.1% and 10.7% year-on-year respectively. During the same period, my country’s imports and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” increased by 23.5% year-on-year. In the first November, the total import and export value of private enterprises was 17.15 trillion yuan, accounting for 48.5% of China’s total foreign trade import and export value.
Many private enterprises use digital means to support and guide the development of export products and the direction of orders. “We have built a set of digital system to understand customers’ buying habits and consumption levels through big data capture of the sales, quality and customer complaints of export orders, and change passively receiving customer feedback into actively positioning market needs.In addition, the company also flexibly adjusts the production and marketing layout based on the data of the system, accurately implements R&D investment, efficiently taps potential orders, and further enhances the brand’s international market share.
Steady development with multiple measures
As one of the “troikas” driving economic growth, foreign trade will continue to move forward steadily. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce Shu Jueting said at a press conference earlier that it is expected that the foreign trade import and export structure will be further optimized throughout the year, high-quality development will accelerate, and the status of a major trading country will be consolidated, and the goal of “quantity stability and quality improvement” can be successfully completed. .
However, relevant people also pointed out that many foreign trade companies, especially small, medium and micro foreign trade companies, have increased their operating pressure and difficulties, and the phenomenon of “being unwilling to accept orders” and “increasing revenue without increasing profits” is more common.
Cui Weijie said that in the future, in response to the complex and severe domestic and foreign situations, we must promptly promote the introduction of targeted policies and measures, do a good job in cross-cycle adjustments, relieve difficulties for enterprises, stabilize and reasonable expectations, and maintain foreign trade operations in a reasonable range.
Specifically: First, stabilize market entities. We will further enhance the role of export credit insurance, ensure that foreign trade credit is allocated, strengthen the ability of enterprises to deal with exchange rate risks, and improve the level of facilitation. The second is to promote innovation. Vigorously develop new business models and models such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, build a digital pilot area for global trade, and promote the development of green trade. The third is the construction of a strong platform. Give full play to the leading role of ports in the free trade zone, and cultivate various platforms such as national processing trade industrial parks, import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, and foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases. The fourth is to ensure stability and smooth flow. Give full play to the role of the unimpeded trade working group, implement unimpeded foreign trade actions, promote the unimpeded flow of goods and settlement, and ensure the stability and unimpeded supply of the foreign trade industry chain. Fifth, expand market space. Grasp the major opportunities of RCEP’s effective implementation in 2022, make good use of the signed free trade agreements, carefully organize major exhibitions such as the Canton Fair.
2021-12-30
Post time: Jan-05-2022