General

Since the beginning of this year, China's foreign trade imports and exports have started steadily and improved month by month, with a year-on-year increase of 4.8% in the total value of international trade imports and exports in the first quarter. However, due to factors such as weakened external demand and geopolitical factors, China's foreign trade situation remains complex and severe, facing many difficulties and challenges. How to increase orders and expand the market has become a hot topic of concern for multiple parties.

In order to promote the stability, scale, and structure of foreign trade, on the basis of multiple rounds of policy measures already introduced in the early stage, the General Office of the State Council released the "Opinions on Promoting the Stability, Scale, and Structure of Foreign Trade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") on April 25, introducing a new round of measures. Experts believe that the 18 specific measures proposed this time not only involve key products, but also involve market expansion and trade innovation. They have strong pertinence and operability, helping to stabilize the scale of foreign trade, and further optimize the foreign trade structure on this basis, promoting the achievement of the goal of promoting stability and quality in international trade import and export throughout the year.

Promote the comprehensive recovery of domestic offline exhibitions

Restoring offline sales is an important means to help businesses stabilize orders. The first of the "18 articles" on foreign trade this time clearly proposes to optimize the supply and procurement coordination of key exhibitions and promote the comprehensive recovery of domestic offline exhibitions.

Offline exhibitions have provided us with more opportunities for face-to-face communication with foreign merchants and helped the company sign more orders. "Chen Dehuan, the development department manager of Zhejiang Ningbo Haozhuan Technology Co., Ltd., introduced that the company's participation in the 133rd Canton Fair has yielded significant results. In addition to solid foreign trade orders during the exhibition, it has also arranged for many potential customers to visit the factory on site. In May, the company's Ningbo production base entered a busy foreign reception month, During this period, more cooperation will be achieved.

After a three-year hiatus, the Canton Fair has fully resumed offline hosting for the first time. As the "barometer" and "wind vane" of China's foreign trade, the Canton Fair has ushered in the largest session in history: the total exhibition area has 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 exhibition, and 35000 offline exhibitors... From April 15th to May 5th, this "China's first exhibition" gathered 10000 merchants, with a cumulative passenger flow of over 2.9 million people and on-site export transactions of 21.69 billion US dollars Purchasing returns with a full load.

The Canton Fair is a microcosm. According to Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce has timely adjusted the management requirements for foreign economic and technological exhibitions, actively promoted the resumption of offline exhibitions, and relevant local commercial authorities have also introduced exhibition industry support policies tailored to local conditions. In the first quarter, there were a total of 540 exhibition activities held by professional exhibition halls in China, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 times; The total exhibition area is 10.311 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 times. Among them, 286 exhibition activities with an exhibition area of over 10000 square meters accounted for 53%, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 times.

Not only domestic exhibitions, the "Opinions" also propose that local governments, trade promotion agencies, and business associations further increase their support for foreign trade enterprises to participate in various overseas exhibitions, strengthen organizational coordination and service guarantee, and continue to cultivate overseas self organized exhibitions and expand the scale of exhibitions.

In the first quarter, according to a sample survey of 10028 Chinese companies from 44 major industries and 646 small industries by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, companies generally reported significant gains from overseas exhibitions. "Wang Linjie, a spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that this year, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China International Chamber of Commerce will hold 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 519 application approvals for the first batch of economic and trade exhibitions to be held abroad in 2023, we are working together with the Ministry of Commerce to review more than 400 projects in the second batch, helping enterprises stabilize orders and expand the market.

Wang Shouwen, International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that in addition to resuming offline exhibitions extensively in China, it will also improve the efficiency of handling APEC business travel cards and promote the safe and orderly resumption of international passenger flights. "In addition, we also request embassies and consulates abroad to increase their support for foreign trade enterprises, and will also release specific measures related to national trade guidelines to increase trade opportunities for enterprises

Stabilizing and expanding trade in key products

Focusing on stabilizing scale, the "18 Articles" of foreign trade highlight the creation of trade opportunities while emphasizing the stability and expansion of key product trade.

Automobile exports are an important part of it. According to data, in 2022, China exported 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, reaching 994000 units, a year-on-year increase of 70.6%. Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, analyzed that new energy vehicles are the core growth point of China's automobile exports.

In March of this year, Yutong Bus signed an export order for 800 new energy buses with Uzbekistan. This order sets a record for China's export of passenger cars to Uzbekistan and is also Uzbekistan's first large-scale introduction of new energy passenger cars. "Yutong has continued to deploy in the global target market in recent years, and has exported more than 86000 passenger cars to more than 40 countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, France, Mexico and Qatar." Huang Yunliang, director of Yutong's overseas marketing management office, said that Yutong will continue to increase its deployment in the new energy target market this year.

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 enterprises and shipping enterprises, and guide automobile enterprises to sign medium and long-term agreements with shipping enterprises. Encourage Chinese banks and their overseas institutions to innovate financial products and services under the premise of legal compliance and controllable risks, and provide financial support for automotive enterprises overseas. All regions further support automobile enterprises to establish and improve the International marketing service system, and enhance their ability to carry out brand publicity, display sales, and after-sales service overseas.

Some institutions predict that benefiting from China's comparative advantage in automobile manufacturing, as well as the growth of overseas substitution demand and policy support, the high momentum of China's automobile exports will continue this year, and the annual automobile export volume is expected to increase to 4 million units.

Strengthen exports and also expand imports. The Opinion proposes to expand the import of advanced technology and equipment. Accelerate the revision and encouragement of imported technology and product catalogs, 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 the Chinese economy, but also makes a very important contribution to the development of the world economy and exporting countries. According to incomplete statistics from the World Trade Organization, China has become the main export market for more than 50 countries and regions. "Wang Shouwen said that China has become the world's second largest import market for 14 consecutive years, with a total import volume of 2.7 trillion US dollars last year, accounting for nearly 11% of world imports. Next, 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 environment for foreign trade development

Foreign trade is an important component of the national economy, with a stable scale and optimized structure. The Opinion proposes 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 Trade Co., Ltd. have been successfully exported overseas through cross-border e-commerce B2B mode. Xu Mingzhu, the marketing director of the company, said, "Cross border e-commerce, a new type of trade method, has provided strong support for us to explore the international trade market. In the first quarter, the company's export volume through cross-border e-commerce trade increased significantly, reaching 7.5 million yuan

As one of the early cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones established in China, Tianjin Port achieved a cross-border e-commerce B2B export volume of 38.26 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 8.4 times year-on-year. The relevant person in charge of Tianjin Customs introduced that Tianjin Customs actively connects with traditional industries and e-commerce platforms, providing one-stop services such as early declaration, direct loading upon arrival, and priority inspection for enterprises, implementing the "paperless" filing of overseas warehouses, and simplifying the filing procedures. At present, Tianjin Customs has processed overseas warehouse registration for 30 enterprises, continuously assisting overseas warehouse enterprises in "going global" and promoting the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce B2B exports in this city.

At present, the development trend of cross-border e-commerce in China is good, helping many enterprises establish independent brands and sales channels, reduce transaction costs, and continuously improve comprehensive competitiveness. Wang Shouwen said that the Ministry of Commerce is preparing to solidly promote the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, open exhibition brand training, rule and standard construction, and high-quality development of overseas warehouses.

Tightly adhering to the optimal structure, the Opinion also proposes to optimize the environment for foreign trade development, play a good role in the early warning system and legal service mechanism, deeply promote the construction of a "single window" for international trade, further facilitate export tax refund processing, improve port clearance efficiency, implement effective free trade agreements with high quality, and compile and issue application guidelines for key industries.

Wu Haiping, Director of the Comprehensive Business Department of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that in recent years, customs has deeply promoted the construction of a "single window" for international trade and provided enterprises with a "one-stop" service for customs clearance. We will make greater efforts to deepen the reform of "streamlining management and serving the government", and implement measures for the convenience of the people and enterprises, such as the "full online and nationwide" registration of customs declaration units. In the first quarter of this year, there were 90000 new customs registered enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 59.8%. At the same time, we will support more enterprises to become customs advanced certification enterprises, steadily promote "certified operators", that is, AEO international mutual recognition, and promote convenience for enterprises both domestically and internationally.

We will continue to focus on the implementation of policy measures, continuously enrich, adjust, and improve relevant measures in further improving trade facilitation level, smooth import and export logistics, optimizing port business environment, reducing enterprise costs, and supporting the development of new business models. We will study and promote new customs support measures, continue to carry out 'customs director to deliver policy door-to-door' services, accurately help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, and spare no effort to promote foreign trade promotion Stable and improved quality Wu Haiping said.