General

According to customs data released recently by the General Administration of Customs, China's import and export volume in February this year exceeded US $411.2 billion, up 1.3% year-on-year. At a recent press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council, relevant officials from the General Administration of Customs introduced that customs data showed that, from a trend perspective, weekly monitoring showed that China's foreign trade imports and exports have significantly stabilized since February, with a year-on-year increase of more than 15% in the last week of February compared to the previous week. With the overall improvement of China's economic situation, the momentum of a smooth start to foreign trade in the first two months is expected to maintain.

Export performance better than expected

According to customs data, China's import volume reached US $1972 billion in February, up 4.2% year-on-year, ending the trend of four consecutive months of year-on-year growth decline; In February, the export volume fell 1.3% year-on-year, but the decline has been significantly narrowed compared to the previous three months. "Overall, the start has been stable and the trend is improving." Yu Jianhua, Director of the General Administration of Customs, said in introducing the development situation of foreign trade in the first two months of this year, "From the perspective of scale, the total export value in the first two months reached a record high, increasing by 0.9%, better than expected. The total import and export value exceeded 6 trillion yuan, which is the second time in history."

In terms of composition, during the epidemic period, China took the lead in resuming work and production, and the export of epidemic prevention materials and "residential economy" products increased significantly, raising the foreign trade base. "We have calculated that if we exclude the 'one-off factor', the import and export growth in the first two months of this year will exceed 10%," Yu Jianhua said.

To assist in the recovery of foreign trade, the customs has introduced a series of measures. According to Yu Jianhua, in terms of ensuring smooth flow, customs data shows that as of December last year, the overall customs clearance time for imports and exports across the country was 67% and 92% shorter than in 2017, respectively; In terms of cost reduction, the customs supports enterprises to enjoy various preferential tax policies, and last year alone, it reduced and refunded taxes of 285 billion yuan for foreign trade enterprises; In terms of excellent services, we carried out the "policy of sending customs officers to their doorstep", innovated regulatory models such as the "release before inspection" of bulk commodities, and the "green channel" of agricultural and food products, and transferred 87 commodity codes out of the legal inspection directory, continuously optimizing the port business environment.

Yu Jianhua said that the customs will also study new policy measures in terms of unblocking import and export logistics, optimizing port business environment, reducing enterprise costs, and supporting the development of new business forms, such as promoting the construction of smart customs, helping enterprises make full use of tariff preferences in free trade agreements such as RCEP, etc.

"Tailored" regulation of cross-border e-commerce

As one of the new forms of international trade development, cross-border e-commerce is showing vigorous vitality. Nowadays, more and more goods made in China are entering the international consumer goods market through cross-border e-commerce.

Unlike traditional trade, cross-border e-commerce presents the characteristics of fragmentation, massiveness, and informatization. The data shows that the number of import lists for cross-border e-commerce is 5-6 times the number of goods declaration forms in the same period, and the average value of each order is less than 3/10000 of the goods declaration forms. "During the supervision process, we have seized prohibited substances such as controlled psychotropic substances, infringing intellectual property rights, and 'exotic pets'. It should be said that these new situations have posed challenges to the customs supervision work." Sun Yuning, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs, said.

How to effectively regulate cross-border e-commerce? Sun Yuning said that the General Administration of Customs has introduced a customs clearance management system different from traditional trade, creating a customs supervision model suitable for the characteristics of cross-border e-commerce through classified management and "tailoring".

On the basis of the original "business to individual (B2C)", the General Administration of Customs has proposed regulatory policies that better serve "business to business (B2B)" and "business to individual (B2B2C)"; In this process, we strengthened technology empowerment, developed and applied a unified cross-border e-commerce regulatory information system, and realized integrated management of transaction, payment, logistics, and other related data. "At the same time, we comprehensively promote paperless filing of cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouses, achieving 'one place filing, nationwide use'. By the end of February, the number of cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouse enterprises registered with the customs has reached 1713." Sun Yuning said.

Promoting stability and improving quality with confidence

Currently, high global inflation and sluggish growth in major economies have continued to impact global trade. The World Trade Organization recently predicted that global trade in goods was weak in the first quarter of this year, with an expected annual growth of only 1%. Recent fluctuations in the financial markets of some Western countries have had an impact on the global trade environment, which is also an external challenge for China's foreign trade to promote stability and quality.

"The challenges facing China's foreign trade are short-term, cyclical, and global. The opportunities for foreign trade development are long-term, structural, and regional." Cheng Shi, chief economist of ICBC International, believes that driven by economic growth and technological progress, global total demand is expected to increase in a trend, and the globalization of service trade may become a breakthrough point in China's foreign trade development.

Yu Jianhua introduced that in the first two months, more enterprises entered the field of foreign trade, and 46000 foreign trade business entities were newly registered by the customs, indicating that market confidence was accumulating and recovering. According to customs data, "in terms of orders, the proportion of enterprises with increased amount of new export orders has continued to increase. In terms of new momentum, the total export of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells increased by 60%. In terms of trade diversification, China's import and export to countries along the the Belt and Road grew by more than 10%, and its total import and export to other members of RCEP grew by more than 3%." Yu Jianhua said.

"Overall, the foreign trade situation is still grim and complex, but it also contains many opportunities." Yu Jianhua said, in comparison, China's competitive advantage is still obvious. With the overall improvement of China's economic situation, the momentum of a smooth start to foreign trade in the first two months is expected to maintain. This year, China is confident of achieving the goal of promoting stability and improving quality in foreign trade.