General

On May 20, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee held a press conference to introduce the situation of "opening up domestic and foreign trade and building a double cycle".

Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, said at the press conference that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the commerce department has made solid progress in stabilizing foreign trade, promoting innovative development of trade, and made historic achievements in the development of foreign trade. In 2021, China's total trade in goods reached US $6.05 trillion, and the trade in services exceeded US $800 billion, an increase of 56% and 70% respectively over 2012.

"China's trade structure has been continuously optimized. In 2021, the proportion of emerging markets, central and western regions, private enterprises and general trade modes in exports increased by 6.2, 5.9, 20.1 and 12.7 percentage points respectively compared with 2012." Sheng Qiuping said. Meanwhile, Sheng Qiuping said that make good use of RCEP free trade agreement and actively promote the process of joining cptpp and depa.

Huo Jianguo, vice president of the China World Trade Organization Research Association, said that in the past 10 years, the main changes in China's foreign trade have been reflected in structural changes, such as the gradual increase in the proportion of service trade and the gradual increase in the proportion of high-end manufacturing exports.

"On the other hand, remarkable achievements have been made in trade diversification, trade exchanges have been established with more countries and international organizations, and major breakthroughs have been made in promoting regional economic integration." Huo Jianguo said.

High value-added products have gradually become a new growth point of foreign trade

Sheng Qiuping introduced that since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, high-quality trade development has made historic achievements and played an important role in national economic development and world economic recovery.

First, the status of a major trading country has been continuously consolidated. Sheng Qiuping said that China has become the largest country in the world's trade in goods since 2013, and the total trade in goods and services has jumped to the first in the world in 2020. Last year, in US dollars, the total import and export volume of China's goods trade increased by 30% year-on-year, spanning two levels of 5 trillion and 6 trillion, reaching a record high, and the international market share of exports reached 15.1%.

Secondly, the trade structure has been continuously optimized. Sheng Qiuping pointed out that the proportion of imports and exports in the central and western regions has increased significantly, the leading role of private enterprises has become more prominent, and high-tech and high value-added products such as automobiles and ships have gradually become new growth points, with automobile exports increasing by 150% over 2012.

Third, trade innovation and development have achieved remarkable results. New business forms and models of trade have emerged. The comprehensive pilot zones of cross-border e-commerce have been expanded to 132, more than 2000 overseas warehouses have been built by enterprises in the region, and the pilot of market procurement trade mode has also been expanded to 31.

Fourth, market diversification achieved positive results. Actively expand emerging markets such as Asia, Latin America and Africa. Trading partners are increasing and the market layout is increasingly optimized. 19 free trade agreements have been signed with 26 countries and regions, accounting for 35% of the trade volume with free trade partners.

In addition, foreign trade has made outstanding contributions to national economic development and world economic recovery. Sheng Qiuping said that foreign trade export is one of the "troikas" driving economic growth, driving 180 million jobs. Last year, the import and export of goods and services boosted GDP growth by 1.7 percentage points, contributing 20.9% to GDP growth. The contribution of China's imports to global import growth has reached 13.4%, which has effectively promoted the recovery of the world economy.

Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of customs, said at the press conference that the high-quality development of China's foreign trade in the past decade is mainly reflected in the simultaneous improvement of quantity and quality and structural optimization.

In 2021, China's exports reached 21.73 trillion yuan, of which electromechanical products including mobile phones, computers and integrated circuits accounted for 12.83 trillion yuan, nearly 60%, while labor-intensive products including clothing, shoes and hats, bags and toys accounted for only 3.94 trillion yuan, 18.1%.

"It can be seen that the transformation and upgrading of China's export leading industries from traditional labor-intensive products to high-tech industries fully reflects the continuous improvement of the quality, grade and added value of export products." Wang Lingjun said.

Various measures to promote high-quality development of foreign trade

Over the past decade, China's position as the largest country in goods trade has been gradually consolidated. However, affected by the epidemic, the recent global economic recovery is slow and the foreign trade situation is grim. How to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment and promote the high-quality development of foreign trade?

Sheng Qiuping said that the first is to improve the quality and efficiency of foreign trade. We will continue to promote the trade of high-tech, high-quality and high value-added products, and promote the high-end and refined development of labor-intensive products. Support the export of brand products, increase the import of energy and resource products and high-quality agricultural products (000061), cultivate national import trade and promote innovation demonstration zones.

Secondly, support the innovative development of foreign trade. We should actively support the development of new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouse, market procurement and trade mode and foreign comprehensive services; Vigorously develop digital trade, improve the digital level of trade, and speed up the digital empowerment of the whole trade chain; Establish green and low-carbon trade standards and certification system, cultivate green and low-carbon trade subjects, and accelerate the development of green trade.

Third, promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. Sheng Qiuping stressed the need to improve the regulation system of domestic and foreign trade integration, promote the interconnection of laws and regulations, regulatory system and quality standards, cultivate a platform for domestic and foreign trade integration, support the development of products with the same line, standard and quality, and promote foreign trade enterprises to expand the domestic market through multiple channels.

Fourth, make every effort to ensure the stability of the supply chain of the foreign trade industry chain. The impact of the epidemic on the global supply chain continues, and the commerce department will strengthen its response, strive to alleviate the problems of global industrial chain supply chain blockage and interruption, continue to optimize the business environment and improve the level of trade facilitation.

"Fifth, we should further strengthen international cooperation. We should hold major economic and trade exhibitions such as the China World Expo, the Canton Fair and the trade in services Fair, firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, actively participate in the reform of the world trade organization, make good use of the RCEP free trade agreement, and actively promote China's accession to the cptpp (Note: the comprehensive and progressive trans Pacific (601099) partnership agreement) and depa (Note: the digital economy partnership agreement) And deeply participate in international cooperation such as green, low-carbon and digital economy. " Sheng Qiuping said.

In recent years, China's digital economy has shown a vigorous development trend, and digital trade has become a new growth point of foreign trade.

Last year, the "China Digital Trade Development Report 2020" released by the Ministry of Commerce predicted that by 2025, the total import and export volume of China's digitized service trade will exceed US $400 billion.

The report shows that during the 13th Five Year Plan period, the scale of China's digital trade has expanded rapidly and its proportion in service trade is also steadily increasing. According to the measurement caliber of the United Nations Conference on Trade and development, China's digital trade volume increased from US $200 billion in 2015 to US $294.76 billion in 2020, an increase of 47.4%, and its proportion in service trade increased from 30.6% to 44.52%. The development foundation of digital trade is more solid.