General

According to weekly monitoring, China's international trade imports and exports have significantly stabilized since February, with a month-on-month growth of over 15% in the last week of February compared to the previous week; Since late February, the export box volume has continued to grow; In the first two months, more enterprises have entered the field of foreign trade, and 46000 new foreign trade business entities have been registered by the customs. On March 20th, the General Administration of Customs provided the above-mentioned sets of data at a series of themed news conferences held by the State Administration for Foreign Trade Affairs (GACC) on the theme of "The Opening of Authorities".

Yu Jianhua, Director of the General Administration of Customs, said at the press conference that on the whole, China's foreign trade has started smoothly with a positive trend. In terms of scale, the total export value in the first two months of this year hit a record high, increasing by 0.9%, better than expected. The total value of imports and exports 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.

According to customs estimates, if the "one-time factor" is excluded, the import and export growth in the first two months of this year will exceed 10%. From a trend perspective, based on weekly monitoring, China's international trade imports and exports have significantly stabilized since February, with a month-on-month growth of more than 15% in the last week of February compared to the previous week. From the perspective of neighboring countries, China's foreign trade performance is good compared to neighboring economies that have published data.

Yu Jianhua also stressed that, of course, foreign trade is indeed facing many difficulties and challenges, and the weakening of foreign demand is of the greatest concern. High global inflation and sluggish growth in major economies have continued to impact global trade.

To address these challenges, relevant measures will continue to be intensified. According to reports, last year, the General Administration of Customs issued 23 support measures, and local customs refined them into more than 1300 specific measures based on local realities, achieving the expected results. For example, in terms of ensuring smooth passage, customs clearance is faster and more convenient. In December 2022, the overall customs clearance time for imports and exports nationwide was reduced by 67% and 92% compared to 2017, respectively; In terms of cost reduction, we supported enterprises in enjoying various tax preferential policies. Last year alone, we reduced and refunded taxes of 285 billion yuan for foreign trade enterprises.

"At present, we are evaluating 23 measures, and we will retain all the measures that can be retained to ensure the continuity of the policy." Yu Jianhua said, on this basis, the customs, through research, will also study new policy measures aimed at the current difficulties and difficulties of enterprises.

Specifically, the following aspects are mainly considered: First, smooth import and export logistics. Promote the construction of smart customs, support the construction of smart ports and smart borders, accelerate and increase efficiency through scientific and technological means, and promote more convenient cross-border logistics. The second is to optimize the port business environment. Deeply promote the construction of a "single window" for international trade and provide enterprises with "one-stop" services for customs clearance. Third, reduce enterprise costs. Help enterprises make full use of tariff preferences in free trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) to reduce the cost of import and export in international trade. Fourth, support the development of new industries. Innovate the cross-border e-commerce customs supervision mode to achieve accurate supervision and rapid customs clearance. Support the development of new business forms such as market procurement trade and bonded maintenance.

"Next, we will carry out in-depth investigation and research, continue to carry out the 'customs director delivers policies to the door' service, go out of the office, enter the enterprise, enter the airport dock, face the needs of the enterprise directly, and work together with the enterprise to solve difficult problems, solve new problems, and spare no effort to promote stability and quality of foreign trade," Yu Jianhua said.

Looking ahead, Yu Jianhua believes that while seeing difficulties, we should also see a positive and optimistic side. In the previous two months, the customs newly registered 46000 foreign trade business entities, indicating that everyone's confidence is accumulating and recovering. In terms of orders, according to customs tracking monitoring, the proportion of enterprises with increased export orders has continuously increased. In terms of new kinetic energy, the total exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar batteries increased by 60%. The import and export of cross-border e-commerce international trade increased by 15.8%. In terms of trade diversification, China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by more than 10%, and its total import and export to other RCEP members increased by more than 3%.

Yu Jianhua said that in general, the international trade situation is still severe and complex, but it also contains many opportunities, and the difficulties are more global. In comparison, China's competitive advantage remains significant. 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 continue. "Therefore, we are confident that China's foreign trade will achieve the goal of promoting stability and improving quality this year."