General

On March 20th, the State Administration for Foreign Trade held a series of themed press conferences on the "Opening of Authoritative Department Talks". Yu Jianhua, Director of the General Administration of Customs, analyzed the foreign trade situation this year and pointed out that, in comparison, China's competitive advantage is still obvious. With the overall improvement of China's economic situation, the momentum of stable opening of foreign trade in the first two months is expected to continue. He is confident that China's foreign trade will achieve the goal of promoting stability and improving quality this year.

In response to the "increase in the number of empty containers at the port", Yu Jianhua said that there were reasons for the excessive release of new containers in the previous period, the low cost of domestic stockpiling, and the short-term massive return of empty containers after the relief of the foreign epidemic, which also had seasonal regularity. A large number of empty containers are waiting to be shipped in China's ports, which to some extent reflects that the international market is still optimistic about China's export capacity in the next stage.

"The customs is closely monitoring the development of foreign trade since March. Our overall view is that the start is stable and the trend is good," Yu Jianhua said.

In terms of scale, the total export value in the first two months reached a historic high, increasing by 0.9%, which was better than expected. 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. 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, according to weekly monitoring, China's foreign trade imports and exports have significantly stabilized since February, with a month on month increase of over 15% in the last week of February compared to the previous week.

However, current foreign trade does face many difficulties and challenges, and the weakening of foreign demand is the most concerning. High global inflation and sluggish growth in major economies have posed a sustained impact on 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 growth rate of only 1% for the entire year. In addition, some countries' strong promotion of "decoupling and chain breaking", geopolitical risks, and recent fluctuations in financial markets in some Western countries have had an impact on the global trade environment, which is also an external challenge for China's foreign trade stability and quality improvement.

However, we also need to see a positive and optimistic side, "Yu Jianhua said. In the first two months, more enterprises entered the foreign trade field in terms of business entities, and 46000 new foreign trade business entities were registered by customs, indicating that everyone's confidence is accumulating and recovering. In terms of orders, according to monitoring, the proportion of enterprises with increased export order amounts has continuously increased. In terms of new energy, the total export growth of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells in the "new three samples" was 60%. The import and export of cross-border e-commerce 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%.

In response to the "increase in the number of empty containers at the port", Yu Jianhua said that there were reasons for the excessive release of new containers in the previous period, the low cost of domestic stockpiling, and a large number of empty containers returning in the short term after the relief of the foreign epidemic, as well as seasonal laws.

A large number of empty containers are waiting to be shipped in China's ports, which to some extent reflects that the international market is still optimistic about our export capacity in the next stage. According to the latest data from customs, the number of export containers has been continuously increasing since late February, "said Yu Jianhua.

He said that overall, the foreign trade situation is still severe and complex, but it also contains many opportunities, and the difficulties are more global. Comparatively speaking, China's competitive advantage is still evident. With the overall improvement of China's economic situation, the momentum of a stable start to foreign trade in the first two months is expected to continue. Therefore, we are full of confidence in achieving the goal of promoting stability and improving quality in China's foreign trade this year.

Research new policy measures to address the pain points and difficulties of enterprises

The development of foreign trade situation is crucial for the business entity. Last year, the customs introduced multiple measures to promote the stability and quality of foreign trade, assist enterprises in alleviating difficulties and reducing costs, and achieved the expected results.

Compared with some major trading countries, China's import and export of goods have not been hindered by the epidemic, and 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% respectively compared to 2017.

In terms of cost reduction, we support enterprises to enjoy various tax preferential policies. Last year alone, we reduced and refunded taxes of 285 billion yuan for foreign trade enterprises.

In terms of excellent services, we will carry out the "policy of customs officers delivering goods to the doorstep", innovate regulatory models such as the "release before inspection" of bulk commodities, and the "green channel" of agricultural and food products. We will remove 87 commodity codes from the legal inspection catalog, and continue to optimize the port business environment.

Yu Jianhua introduced that the General Administration of Customs is evaluating the 23 measures previously introduced, and any measures that can be retained will be retained to ensure the continuity of the policy. On this basis, new policy measures need to be studied to address the pain points, difficulties, and bottlenecks of current enterprises through research. Mainly considering four aspects, including smooth import and export logistics, optimizing the port business environment, reducing enterprise costs, and supporting the development of new business models.

Optimizing Facilities and Establishing Platforms to Promote Unicom's Continuous Optimization of Port Business Environment

The business environment at ports is directly related to the vital interests and sense of gain of the majority of business entities, and has been widely concerned by various sectors of society for a period of time. In the past period of time, with close cooperation from various aspects, the customs has launched a series of innovative measures to optimize the business environment at ports, which have also achieved certain results: shorter customs clearance time, lower customs clearance costs, and more convenient customs procedures.

Optimizing the business environment at ports can only be better, without the best, always on the road. "Zhao Zenglian, Director of the General Office of the Customs, said that the next step will be to continue to introduce new powerful measures, which can be summarized in 15 words: optimizing facilities, building platforms, promoting connectivity, strengthening cooperation, and improving efficiency.

One is to optimize port facilities. The customs is working with relevant parties to accelerate the expansion and construction projects of important border ports, and further enhance the clearance capacity of border ports. We are guiding Hainan Province to implement the layout plan for free trade ports, accelerate the construction of free trade ports, and provide port facility guarantees for the next scheduled closure and operation.

The second is to build a service platform. Optimize the related services of "customs clearance+logistics" and "foreign trade+finance", and provide enterprises with services such as full process information query of customs clearance logistics, export credit insurance handling, cross-border settlement financing, etc.

The third is to promote internal and external connectivity. Actively promote the reopening of land border ports. Further promote the development of cross-border trains such as the China Europe Express and the Western Land Sea New Channel, and support the development of multimodal transportation such as "sea rail intermodal transportation" in various regions.

The fourth is to strengthen international cooperation. We will vigorously promote international cooperation in "smart customs, smart borders, and smart access", coordinate the construction of smart ports, steadily promote the "green channel" for rapid customs clearance of agricultural and sideline products, promote the "single window" cooperation between China and countries along the "the Belt and Road", and promote the exchange and sharing of documents related to cross-border trade.

Fifth, improve customs clearance efficiency. Based on the preliminary evaluation, we will continue to deepen the pilot reform of customs clearance facilitation, such as "ship side direct lifting", "arrival direct loading", and "combined port". Guide various regions to publish the port clearance process and main link operation time limits based on actual conditions, stabilize the clearance time within a reasonable range, and provide relatively stable clearance expectations for enterprises.

Continuously improving cross-border e-commerce import and export return measures

Cross border e-commerce is closely related to people's lives, and the development momentum of cross-border e-commerce has been very rapid in recent years. Data shows that in the past decade of the new era, cross-border e-commerce has entered a period of rapid development. Over the past five years, imports and exports have increased from 1 trillion yuan in 2018 to 2.11 trillion yuan in 2022. More and more Chinese made goods are entering the international consumer goods market through cross-border e-commerce.

It is reported that 165 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones have been established nationwide, becoming an important carrier and platform for cross-border e-commerce development, covering 31 provinces and cities.

Sun Yuling, Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that cross-border e-commerce is different from traditional trade methods and trade characteristics. It is characterized by fragmentation, magnanimity and informatization. Data shows that the number of import lists for cross-border e-commerce is 56 times that of goods declaration forms during the same period, and the average value of each form is less than three thousandths of the goods declaration forms. During the regulatory process, we have seized prohibited items such as firearms and explosives, drugs, controlled psychotropic substances, intellectual property infringement items, and "exotic pets". It should be said that these new situations have posed challenges to customs supervision work

He stated that in the next stage, the customs will continue to adhere to the regulatory philosophy of "innovation, inclusiveness, prudence, and coordination", adhere to standardization in development and development in standardization, and mainly focus on two aspects of work. On the one hand, efforts should be made to strengthen supervision. Using intelligent verification methods to prevent cross-border e-commerce smuggling by verifying the authenticity of customs declaration documents; Strengthen cooperation with cross-border e-commerce platform enterprises, move forward risk prevention measures, and further reduce business and customs regulatory risks; Widely carry out the application of product barcodes, strengthen the traceability management of products, and make consumers feel at ease and at ease; Continuously pay attention to overseas food safety issues and promptly issue warning information.

On the other hand, we need to "make practical moves" in providing excellent services. Support cross-border e-commerce enterprises to pay taxes electronically and facilitate online processing by enterprises; Promote the "inspection before loading" of export LCL goods, further improve logistics efficiency and reduce enterprise costs; Strengthen data analysis services to provide strong expected guidance for the high-quality development of new business models; Optimize the overseas warehouse declaration process to serve enterprises in further expanding exports; Continuously improving import and export return measures to address the "worries" of enterprises and consumers

Strictly prevent the invasion of foreign species such as "alien pets"

At present, many young people are keen on raising "alien pets". At the same time, this year's No. 1 central document included "alien pets" for the first time. What is a 'pet' and what harm can it bring?

Regarding this, Zhao Zenglian stated that the reason for being called "heteropets" is mainly due to some special animals that are different from traditional companion animals such as cats and dogs. When it comes to its uniqueness, the main reason is that some small animals that have already moved us, such as snakes, lizards, horned frogs, etc., have become pets. These "exotic pets" have unique looks, colorful colors, and are unique.

"The No. 1 central document first mentioned 'alien pets', which reflects that' alien pets' are no longer simple living pets, but have other hidden worries." Zhao Zenglian said, mainly reflected in three aspects: first, these "alien pets" are mostly alien species, which threaten biological diversity. Once some "exotic pets" escape or are abandoned in nature, they will quickly breed and spread without natural enemies, posing a threat to the local ecosystem. The second is to threaten the safety of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing production. Once some "alien pets" arrive in the nature, they often pose a great threat to the local speciation, and even lead to a sharp decline of the local biological population. The third is to threaten the health and safety of the people. Some "exotic pets" have aggressiveness, such as the fire salamander and wild harvest ant seen online. Some "exotic pets" can even be highly toxic, such as giant centipedes and arrow poison frogs. Some "exotic pets" carry various pathogens, which can threaten the safety of the people's lives.

In response, the customs has taken a series of measures to strictly prevent the invasion of foreign species such as "alien pets". One is to strengthen port inspections, and customs use technical means such as X-ray machines and CT machines to prevent "foreign pets" from entering the country with mail. The second is to carry out special actions and resolutely eliminate criminal gangs that illegally introduce foreign species such as "exotic pets". The third is to strengthen joint prevention and control. Strengthen departmental cooperation internally and form a joint law enforcement force; Strengthen source control externally, and consolidate the main and regulatory responsibilities of overseas regulatory authorities. The fourth is to create a social co governance atmosphere, where no one buys, no one sells. By comprehensively utilizing the combination of "online and offline" methods, we will continue to strengthen publicity and education for shipping companies and inbound passengers, and do everything possible to strengthen the public's biosafety awareness.