General

With the continuous release of RCEP policy dividends, the RCEP regional activity index of Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises has shown full resilience.

XTransfer, a one-stop cross-border financial and risk control service platform for foreign trade enterprises, and the Business Industry Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) released the "China Small, Medium and Micro Foreign Trade from January to August 2022" at the 2nd China Foreign Trade Cooperation and Development Forum held during this year's Service Trade Fair. Enterprise Export RCEP Regional Activity Index. The index shows that with the continuous release of RCEP policy dividends, China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises export RCEP regional activity index has shown full resilience. From January to August, Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises achieved positive growth in the amount of receipts from all trading partners in the RCEP region.

The index shows that from January to March, affected by the "Spring Festival effect", the RCEP regional activity index dropped slightly; from March to May, affected by the traditional festivals of important export destination countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, the RCEP regional activity index It showed a downward trend and fell to the lowest value in May; after May, thanks to the effective control of the domestic new crown pneumonia epidemic and the recovery of demand from countries in the RCEP region, the RCEP regional activity index rose steadily after a short period of repair.

From January to August, the number of small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to RCEP countries in China increased by 36.4% year-on-year; during the same period, the proportion of receipts from small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to the RCEP region increased by 2.79%. Against the background of complex and severe international situation, the trade promotion effect of RCEP on China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises is rapidly emerging.

From the point of view of export destinations, the top three destination countries of Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to the RCEP region are: South Korea, Japan, and Singapore; Philippines, Indonesia.

The report pointed out that the level of receipts of Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to South Korea and Japan is at a high level, accounting for about 32.1% of the total receipts in the RCEP region. The official entry into force of RCEP is the first time that China has established a free trade agreement relationship with South Korea and Japan. Japan has implemented zero tariffs on 88% of my country's goods. This is also the first time that China, Japan and South Korea have reached a common free trade agreement, which is conducive to the economic and trade integration of Northeast Asia.

In addition, the proportion of Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to Vietnam has slightly decreased. The possible reason is that Vietnam and China have a certain degree of competition in the international trade market of machinery and textile industries, and their dependence on my country's supply chain has weakened. Considering that Vietnam's tariff preference for these two types of products in my country is not in place at one time, the promotion effect of the RCEP policy is relatively small.

From a regional point of view, the top three provinces (cities) in terms of receipts by Chinese small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises exporting to the RCEP region are: Guangdong, Shanghai, and Zhejiang.

The top three export destinations of Guangdong's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in the RCEP area are: South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Among them, Singapore has strong demand for high value-added commodities such as electronics and machinery, which mainly meet the needs of its manufacturing and construction industries.

The top three export destinations of Shanghai's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in the RCEP region are: Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan. Among them, Indonesia's manufacturing industry relies more on China's raw materials and machinery and other supporting industries to complete production due to its own technology, infrastructure and other factors.

The top three export destinations of Zhejiang's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in the RCEP region are: Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Among them, the Philippines, as a country in the RCEP region with the largest import volume and year-on-year growth rate of my country's automobiles, has further pushed up its international trade demand for machinery products such as transportation equipment accessories.

The above report believes that since the RCEP came into effect for more than 8 months, China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises have handed over a dazzling "report card", which not only reflects the resilience of my country's international trade, but also brings greater development space for the future.

Digitization has greatly lowered the threshold for all kinds of enterprises to participate in international trade. With greater flexibility, small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises enable them to obtain international cooperation opportunities through digital transformation. Taking cross-border e-commerce as an example, the characteristics of online, small batch and high frequency are becoming the cornerstone of "one step ahead" for small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises.

With the deepening of RCEP cooperation and the implementation of policies, the national industrial chain and supply chain in the region is expected to achieve further complementary advantages and deep integration. For small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises, this will bring them new opportunities to explore the international trade market and deepen international cooperation. "We must also clearly realize that there are still many small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises who are relatively unfamiliar with RCEP. They need to spend time, find ways, learn more, become familiar with and make good use of the free trade agreement, and better enjoy the dividends of regional opening up." The report believes that .