Since the beginning of this year, China’s foreign trade import and export has started steadily and improved month by month. In the first quarter, the total import and export value increased by 4.8% year-on-year. However, affected by factors such as weakening external demand and geopolitics, China’s foreign trade situation remains complex and severe, facing many difficulties and challenges. How to increase orders and expand markets has become a hot issue of concern to many parties.
In order to promote the stable scale and optimized structure of foreign trade, based on the previous rounds of policy measures, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Promoting the Stable Scale and Optimized Structure of Foreign Trade” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”) on April 25, launching new round of measures. Experts believe that the 18 specific measures proposed this time involve not only key products, but also market expansion and trade innovation. They are highly targeted and operational and will help stabilize the scale of foreign trade and further optimize foreign trade on this basis. structure to promote the realization of the annual import and export goals and tasks of promoting stability and improving quality.
Promote the full recovery of domestic offline exhibitions
Resuming offline exhibitions is an important means to help companies stabilize orders. Among the “18 points” for foreign trade this time, the first one clearly states that we should optimize the supply and procurement docking of key exhibitions and promote the full recovery of domestic offline exhibitions.
“Offline exhibitions give us more opportunities for face-to-face communication with overseas merchants, helping the company sign more orders.” Chen Dehuan, development manager of Zhejiang Ningbo Haozuan Technology Co., Ltd., said that the company has gained a lot from participating in the 133rd Canton Fair, in addition to During the exhibition, solid foreign trade orders were received, and many interested customers were also made appointments to visit the factory. In May, the company’s Ningbo production base entered a busy month for receiving foreign businessmen, during which more cooperation will be reached.
After three years, the Canton Fair resumed its offline activities for the first time. As the “barometer” and “wind vane” of China’s foreign trade, the Canton Fair ushered in the largest session in history: the total exhibition area increased to 1.5 million square meters, attracting hundreds of thousands of buyers from more than 220 countries and regions to sign up for the fair. There are 35,000 offline exhibitors… From April 15 to May 5, this “China’s No. 1 Exhibition” gathered tens of thousands of merchants, with a cumulative passenger flow of more than 2.9 million, and on-site export transactions of US$21.69 billion. Exhibitors and procurement Returned with a full load.
The Canton Fair is a microcosm. Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce has timely adjusted the management requirements for foreign-related economic and technological exhibitions and actively promoted the resumption of offline exhibitions. Relevant local commercial authorities have also introduced support policies for the exhibition industry based on local conditions. In the first quarter, a total of 540 exhibitions were held in domestic professional exhibition halls, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 times; the total exhibition area was 10.311 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 times. Among them, there were 286 exhibitions with an exhibition area of more than 10,000 square meters, accounting for 53%, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 times.
Not only domestic exhibitions, the “Opinions” also proposed that local governments, trade promotion agencies, and business associations should further increase support for foreign trade enterprises to participate in various overseas exhibitions, strengthen organizational coordination and service guarantees, continue to cultivate overseas self-organized exhibitions, and expand the number of overseas exhibitions. Exhibition scale.
“In the first quarter, according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade’s sample survey of 10,028 Chinese companies participating in overseas exhibitions in 44 large industries and 646 small industries, companies generally reported that they have gained more from overseas exhibitions.” Wang Linjie, spokesperson of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that this year, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade , China International Chamber of Commerce will organize 28 overseas exhibition projects, targeting mature markets such as the United States and the European Union, as well as emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America and West Africa. At the same time, on the basis of completing the approval of 519 projects for the first batch of economic and trade exhibitions held abroad in 2023, it is working with the Ministry of Commerce to review the second batch of more than 400 projects to help companies stabilize orders and expand markets.
Wang Shouwen, International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in addition to broadly resuming offline exhibitions in China, it will also improve the efficiency of APEC business travel card processing and promote the steady and orderly resumption of international passenger flights. “In addition, we have also invited embassies and consulates abroad to We will increase support for foreign trade companies and will also issue specific measures related to country-specific trade guidelines to increase trade opportunities for companies.”
Stabilize and expand trade in key products
Focusing on stabilizing scale, the “18 Measures” for foreign trade highlight the creation of trade opportunities while emphasizing the stabilization and expansion of trade in key products.
Automobile exports are an important part of this. Data show that in 2022, China will export 3.111 million vehicles, surpassing Germany to become the second largest automobile exporter. In the first quarter of this year, China’s automobile exports continued to maintain a rapid growth momentum, with exports reaching 994,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 70.6%. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, analyzed that new energy vehicles are the core growth point of China’s automobile exports.
In March this year, Yutong Bus signed an export order for 800 new energy buses with Uzbekistan. This order sets a record for China’s passenger car exports to Uzbekistan and is also the first time Uzbekistan has introduced new energy buses in large quantities. “Yutong has continued to expand into global target markets in recent years and has exported more than 86,000 buses of various types to more than 40 countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Qatar.” Huang Yunliang, director of the Overseas Marketing Management Office of Yutong Bus, said that this year Yutong will Continue to increase our presence in new energy target markets.
In order to cultivate the advantages of automobile exports, the “Opinions” issued this time propose that local governments and business associations organize direct customer docking between automobile companies and shipping companies, and guide automobile companies and shipping companies to sign medium- and long-term agreements. Encourage Chinese banks to��On the premise of compliance with laws and regulations and controllable risks, its overseas institutions innovate financial products and services to provide financial support to automobile companies overseas. All localities further support automobile companies in establishing and improving international marketing service systems and improving their capabilities in brand promotion, display sales, and after-sales services overseas.
Some institutions predict that, benefiting from the comparative advantages of China’s automobile manufacturing, the growth of overseas substitute demand, and policy support, China’s automobile export boom will continue this year, and the annual automobile export volume is expected to increase to 4 million units.
Strengthen exports and expand imports. The “Opinions” propose to expand the import of advanced technology and equipment. Accelerate the revision of the catalog of technologies and products that are encouraged to be imported, further improve the accuracy of import discount policies, and guide enterprises to expand the import of advanced technology and equipment that are in short supply domestically.
“Expanding imports not only contributes to China’s economy, but also makes a very important contribution to the world economy and the economic development of exporting countries. According to incomplete statistics from the World Trade Organization, China is already the main export market for more than 50 countries and regions.” Wang Shouwen said , China has been the world’s second largest import market for 14 consecutive years, with total imports reaching US$2.7 trillion last year, accounting for nearly 11% of world imports. In the next step, China will continue to take a series of measures to expand imports and support the import of advanced technology, important equipment and key components.
Optimize the foreign trade development environment
Foreign trade is an important part of the national economy, and its scale must be stabilized and its structure optimized. The “Opinions” propose to optimize trade methods and promote the healthy, sustainable and innovative development of cross-border e-commerce.
In Tianjin, a batch of furniture products from Kaijie International Trading Co., Ltd. were successfully exported overseas through the cross-border e-commerce B2B model. Xu Mingzhu, the company’s marketing director, said: “Cross-border e-commerce, a new trade method, has provided us with strong support for exploring overseas markets. The company’s export volume through cross-border e-commerce trade increased significantly in the first quarter, reaching 7.5 million yuan.”
As one of the earliest cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones established in China, Tianjin Port’s cross-border e-commerce B2B export volume reached 38.26 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 8.4 times. According to the relevant person in charge of Tianjin Customs, Tianjin Customs actively connects traditional industries and e-commerce platforms to provide enterprises with one-stop services such as advance declaration, direct loading at the port, and priority inspection. It implements “paperless” filing for overseas warehouses and simplifies filing procedures. . At present, Tianjin Customs has registered overseas warehouses for 30 companies, continuing to help overseas warehouse companies “go global” and promote the high-quality development of the city’s cross-border e-commerce B2B exports.
“Currently, my country’s cross-border e-commerce is developing well, which has helped many companies establish their own brands and sales channels, reduce transaction costs, and continuously improve their overall competitiveness.” Wang Shouwen said that the Ministry of Commerce is ready to solidly promote comprehensive trials of cross-border e-commerce. District construction, carry out brand training, rules and standards construction, high-quality development of overseas warehouses and other work.
Closely following the optimal structure, the “Opinions” also proposes to optimize the foreign trade development environment, give full play to the role of the early warning system and legal service mechanism, further promote the construction of “single window”, further facilitate the processing of export tax refunds, improve the efficiency of port customs clearance, and implement high-quality implementation of the “single window” that has taken effect. free trade agreements, and compile and issue application guides for key industries.
Wu Haiping, director of the Comprehensive Business Department of the General Administration of Customs, said that in recent years, the customs has further promoted the construction of a “single window” for international trade and provided enterprises with “one-stop” services for customs clearance. Greater efforts will be made to deepen the reform of “delegating power, delegating power, delegating regulation and optimizing services”, and implement measures to facilitate the people and benefit enterprises such as “full online processing and nationwide processing” for customs declaration unit registration. In the first quarter of this year, there were 90,000 new customs-registered enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 59.8%. At the same time, support more enterprises to become advanced customs certified enterprises, steadily promote the international mutual recognition of “certified business operators”, that is, AEO, and promote enterprises to enjoy convenience at home and abroad.
“We will continue to implement policies and measures, and continue to enrich, adjust and improve relevant measures in terms of further improving trade facilitation, smoothing import and export logistics, optimizing the port business environment, reducing corporate costs, and supporting the development of new business formats. , study and launch new customs support measures, continue to carry out the ‘customs commissioner delivers policy door-to-door’ service, accurately help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, and go all out to promote foreign trade to promote stability and improve quality.” Wu Haiping said.
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