General

Since the total import and export value in July broke the 400 billion yuan mark for the first time and hit a new record high in a single month, import and export data show that Shanghai's foreign trade volume in August again broke the record, with the monthly import and export value reaching 414.97 billion yuan, an increase of 15.8% over the same period last year. The import and export data show that in the first eight months, Shanghai's import and export totaled 2.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.8% from a decline of 0.4% in the first half of the year. The gap with the growth rate of foreign trade across the country narrowed to 5.3 percentage points, and the "V" shaped reversal of the foreign trade situation continued.

Influenced by the epidemic, the import and export situation in Shanghai fell sharply in April, but as June entered the stage of fully restoring normal production and living order, the supply chain of Shanghai's industrial chain gradually recovered, and the import and export continued to stabilize and recover. According to the import and export data, in June, Shanghai's foreign trade enterprises caught up and pulled the import and export volume back 46.2 percentage points and 41 percentage points from the bottom in April, making the scale of Shanghai's foreign trade in the first half of the year basically the same as that of the same period last year, with a cumulative import and export of 1.88 trillion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.6% year on year. In this regard, Huang Jianzhong, dean of the School of International Business and Economics of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said that Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region have a sound industrial foundation, strong industrial chain resilience, and the rapid resumption of production after the epidemic has supported the rapid recovery of the industrial chain, reflecting the advantages of industrial synergy in the Yangtze River Delta.

Why did Shanghai's import and export volume hit new highs in July and August? Huang Jianzhong said that the government has done a lot of work in stabilizing foreign investment and foreign trade. For example, while implementing the 10 measures of the General Administration of Customs to promote the stability and quality of foreign trade, the Shanghai Customs has combed 37 enterprise appeals in four categories through enterprise forums, online interviews, questionnaires and other forms, and has issued 8 batches of 60 enterprise friendly measures to make every effort to ensure the normal and orderly customs clearance of Shanghai ports, The supply chain of the industrial chain in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta will be kept efficient and smooth.

According to the import and export data, in the past few months, Shanghai's key foreign trade industries have continued to develop. Among them, the computer communication industry has obvious export advantages, with notebook computer exports of 15.6 billion yuan, an increase of 140.5%; Mobile phone exports reached 6.19 billion yuan, up 269.4%. With the weakening demand for global consumer electronics products, the export growth of relevant products in Shanghai is remarkable, which reflects the strong resilience of the computer communication industry. In addition, according to the import and export data, as the upstream and downstream supporting facilities of Shanghai's new energy industry are mature and the products have strong international competitiveness, the export of new energy industries such as electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells has performed well, with growth rates of 88.8%, 722.7% and 47.4% respectively.

Huang Jianzhong said that the high inflation rate overseas has boosted the consumption demand for labor-intensive products. In addition, some orders have returned in the short term, which has led to a sustained rebound in the recent export of labor-intensive products, supporting the export of clothing and textiles.

"It is worth noting that after the epidemic, Shanghai's foreign investment has become more active." Huang Jianzhong said that with the continuous inflow of foreign capital in the near future, confidence has been injected into the original market, especially foreign trade manufacturers and foreign-funded enterprises, and a new round of expanded investment has begun, Shanghai's foreign trade is expected to maintain a steady and good momentum.