General

In recent years, a series of support policies related to cross-border e-commerce have been introduced at the national level. In the COVID-19, new forms and models of foreign trade development have emerged, which has also promoted the rapid growth of China's cross-border e-commerce scale.

According to customs statistics, since 2017, the scale of cross-border e-commerce in China has increased by nearly 10 times within 5 years; In 2022, China's cross-border e-commerce international trade import and export reached 2.11 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.8%. Among them, exports reached 1.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.7%; Import reached 0.56 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.9%.

As a new engine for cross-border e-commerce development, digital trade was first written into the Report on the Work of the Government in 2022. At this year's local two sessions, cross-border e-commerce and digital trade were also frequently mentioned, becoming strong engines for promoting innovative development of foreign trade in multiple regions.

Accelerating the cultivation of a group of new international trade benchmark enterprises such as cross-border e-commerce, offshore trade, digital trade, and comprehensive foreign trade services is a key task for Shanghai this year. The recently issued "Shanghai Action Plan for Enhancing Confidence, Expanding Demand, Stabilizing Growth, and Promoting Development" proposes to accelerate the development of new international trade, strive to create the first batch of "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation pilot zones and national service trade innovation and development demonstration zones.

This year, Zhejiang has set a clear goal of "ensuring the realization of digital trade volume of 470 billion yuan and cross-border RMB settlement volume of over 900 billion yuan", and proposed to vigorously develop new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, and market procurement, and accelerate the construction of a strong trade province.

Fujian, Liaoning, Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan and other regions have also proposed to accelerate the development of new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, and bonded maintenance, supporting enterprises to accelerate the layout of overseas warehouses in key areas.

The reporter noticed that in November last year, the State Council agreed to establish cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in 33 cities and regions including Langfang, Zaozhuang, and Lhasa. At this point, the number of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in China has reached 165, covering 31 provinces, regions, and cities.

Bai Ming, Deputy Director of the International Trade Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the expansion of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone will promote the acceleration of reform and innovation in various regions, promote the integration of industrial digitization and trade digitization, further promote trade facilitation, regulatory system innovation, and participate in international rule docking, and accumulate new advantages for the high-quality development of China's foreign trade.

Through the Report on the Work of the Government, we can see that this year, all regions have taken the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones as an important starting point to promote high-quality development of foreign trade.

For example, Guangdong proposes to accelerate the construction of a cross-border e-commerce demonstration province and a digital navigation zone for global trade in the Greater Bay Area. Shandong proposes to make good use of the 16 cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, optimize the layout of overseas warehouses, and increase the import and export of cross-border e-commerce international trade by more than 10%. At the same time, we will deepen the pilot projects for innovative development of service trade in Jinan, Qingdao, and Weihai, and build national digital, cultural, and other characteristic service export bases. Jiangsu proposes to vigorously develop service trade and digital trade, accelerate the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, and solidly promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade pilot projects. Shanxi proposes to focus on developing new forms of foreign trade and accelerate the construction of cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in Taiyuan, Datong, and Yuncheng. Xinjiang proposes to promote the construction of border (cross-border) economic cooperation zones and accelerate the construction of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in Urumqi, Kashgar, Alashankou, and Ili Prefecture. Chongqing will rely on the China (Chongqing) Cross border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone to successfully hold the 2023 China (Chongqing) Cross border E-commerce Fair, and continue to expand the scale of digital trade in Industrial Internet, smart cities and other fields.