General

On March 20th, the State Administration of Customs held a series of themed press conferences on the "Opening of Authoritative Department Talks". The relevant officials of the General Administration of Customs responded to key issues such as promoting stable and high-quality foreign trade, optimizing the port business environment, and developing special regulatory areas.

Introduction of the General Administration of Customs:

In 2022, customs tax receipts amounted to 2.28 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.6%;

In the first two months of 2023, the total export value reached a historic high, increasing by 0.9%;

According to the latest customs data, since late February 2023, the number of export containers has been continuously increasing;

The General Administration of Customs, through research, needs to study new policy measures to address the pain points, difficulties, and obstacles faced by foreign trade enterprises;

In the first two months, the customs newly registered 46000 foreign trade business entities

Full of confidence in promoting stability and improving quality in foreign trade this year

The customs are closely monitoring the development of foreign trade since March, and overall, the foreign trade has started steadily with a positive trend, "said General Administration of Customs Director Yu Jianhua at a press conference.

In terms of scale, the total export value in the first two months reached a historic 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. The peak of the same period before the epidemic was less than 5 trillion yuan.

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 the calculation of the General Administration of Customs, 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.

From the perspective of neighboring countries, China's foreign trade performance is good compared to neighboring economies that have already released data.

Of course, foreign trade does face many difficulties and challenges, and the weakening of external demand is the most concerning. High global inflation and weak 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 have strongly promoted 'decoupling and chain breaking', geopolitical risks, and recent fluctuations in financial markets in some Western countries have had a negative impact on global trade The impact of the global trade environment is also an external challenge for China's foreign trade to promote stability and improve quality Yu Jianhua said.

However, we also need to see a positive and optimistic side. Yu Jianhua introduced that 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 the customs, indicating that market confidence is accumulating and recovering. In terms of orders, according to tracking and 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 cross-border e-commerce import and export growth that everyone is concerned about is 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 recent increase in the number of empty containers in ports, Yu Jianhua responded that there were reasons for the large amount of new container placement in the previous period, low domestic storage costs, and a large number of empty containers returning in the short term after the relief of the foreign epidemic, as well as seasonal patterns. 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 customs data, the number of export containers has been continuously increasing since late February.

Overall, the foreign 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 is still obvious. 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 confident that China's foreign trade will achieve the goal of promoting stability and improving quality this year

Targeting the pain points, difficulties, and obstacles of foreign trade enterprises

Research new policy initiatives

Regarding measures to stabilize foreign trade, Yu Jianhua pointed out that 23 support measures were introduced last year, and customs in various regions refined them into more than 1300 specific measures based on local conditions. It should be said that these measures have been welcomed by business entities and have achieved expected results.

Now, we are evaluating 23 measures, and all that can be retained will be retained to ensure the continuity of the policy. Based on this, we will conduct research to address the pain points, difficulties, and obstacles of current enterprises, and also study new policy measures. "Yu Jianhua pointed out.

There are several main considerations:

Firstly, 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 technological means, and promote more convenient cross-border logistics.

The second is to optimize the business environment at ports. Deepen the construction of a "single window" for international trade and provide enterprises with one-stop customs clearance services.

The third is to reduce enterprise costs. Help enterprises make full use of tariff preferences in free trade agreements such as RCEP to reduce import and export costs.

Fourth, support the development of new business models. Innovate the cross-border e-commerce customs supervision model, achieve precise supervision and rapid customs clearance. Support the development of new formats such as market procurement trade and bonded maintenance.

Next, Yu Jianhua said that the General Administration of Customs would carry out in-depth investigation and research, continue to carry out the service of "the customs director delivers policies to the door", go out of the office, enter enterprises, enter the airport terminal, face the needs of enterprises directly, and work together with enterprises to solve problems and new problems, and go all out to promote foreign trade stability and quality improvement.

Optimizing the Business Environment at Ports

Only better, no best

For optimizing the business environment at ports, Zhao Zenglian, Director of the General Office of Customs, added that optimizing the business environment at ports can only be better, there is no best, and always on the way. The General Administration of Customs will continue to launch new powerful measures, which can be summarized in 15 words: optimizing facilities, building platforms, promoting connectivity, strengthening cooperation, and improving efficiency.

According to Zhao Zenglian, the General Administration of Customs is working with relevant parties to accelerate the expansion and construction 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. In addition, we are actively working with all parties to promote the reopening of land border ports. At present, the resumption of freight transportation at relevant land border ports has achieved "full opening", and relevant passenger transportation channels are also being restored and opened in an orderly manner. The General Administration of Customs further promotes the development of cross-border trains such as the China Europe Express and the Western Land Sea New Channel, and supports the development of multimodal transportation such as "sea rail intermodal transportation" in various regions.