General

Stabilizing foreign trade is essential to stabilizing economic operation. On September 7, the General Administration of Customs released China's foreign trade data for the first eight months. Although the domestic epidemic situation was sporadic and the external environment was complex and changeable, the total value of China's international trade imports and exports in the past eight months was 27.3 trillion yuan, up 10.1% year on year, continuing to maintain double-digit growth.

The steady growth of foreign trade fully demonstrates the strong development resilience of China's foreign trade. Li Kuiwen, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, said that since this year, China has effectively coordinated epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, and continued to introduce a series of policies to stabilize foreign trade, which has promoted the stability, expansion of advantages and vitality of international trade.

In the first half of the year, the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other key foreign trade cities were affected by the epidemic to varying degrees. As the "pillar", the import and export of major foreign trade provinces (cities) recovered well, helping to maintain the basic market of stable foreign trade growth.

According to the statistics of import and export data, in the first eight months, the import and export of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, Fujian and other seven provinces and cities exceeded trillion yuan, totaling 20.54 trillion yuan, up 9.7% year on year, and contributing more than 70% to the growth of national foreign trade.

Li Kuiwen said that the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta overcame the adverse effects of the epidemic, and the growth rate of import and export in the first eight months was 1.5 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the country, providing a strong momentum for stabilizing the foreign trade market.

Drive full power to catch up with orders, and the production line is busy. In the workshop of Zhejiang Taizhou Xigemai Co., Ltd., one automobile shock absorber was sent to the world. "Since this year, the company's product sales have been booming, and orders for export to Europe and the United States have been pouring in. At present, orders have been placed in October." Said Dai Hongjun, director of the international marketing department of Sigma Co., Ltd.

Private enterprises are the main force of China's foreign trade, with the advantages of high operational flexibility and strong market adaptability. In the first eight months, there were 459,000 private enterprises with import and export performance nationwide, an increase of 7.3% year on year, totaling 13.68 trillion yuan of import and export, an increase of 14.9% year on year, 4.8 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the country.

Zhang Yu, deputy director of the International Economic and Trade Research Office of the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that under multiple pressures, private enterprises have risen to the challenge and overcome the difficulties. The vitality and huge potential they have demonstrated are inseparable from the rescue and assistance policies and measures that the country has intensively introduced and the business environment that has been continuously optimized, which has also injected new vitality into the development of China's international trade.

As the position of the world's largest trade country in goods is more consolidated, China has become a major trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions in the world. Data shows that in the first eight months, China's imports and exports to ASEAN, the EU, the United States and other major trading partners maintained growth.

Among them, it is worth noting that since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into force this year, trade dividends have been released continuously. Over the same period, the import and export of China and the countries along the "the Belt and Road" and the RCEP member countries increased by 20.2% and 7.5% respectively.

In order to help enterprises maintain steady growth and guarantee orders, further expand the international market, all departments around the country have effectively implemented policies and tasks, so that enterprises can really enjoy preferential treatment. The service team of Hangzhou Customs for "Ten Cities, One Hundred Regiments and One Thousand Enterprises" went deep into the front line and guided enterprises to deliver goods through the "Yixin Europe" train in response to the needs of enterprises exporting to countries along the "the Belt and Road", which not only provided stable export timeliness for enterprises, but also shortened the transportation time by one third compared with the past.

"The extension and expansion of the 'circle of friends' has opened up new fields and markets for further tapping the growth potential of China's foreign trade import and export." Zhang Yu said that foreign trade enterprises should deeply understand and make full use of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, RCEP rules and other institutional dividends, so as to further improve the competitiveness of enterprises and promote the quality and efficiency of foreign trade.

At the critical juncture of economic recovery, the steady growth of international trade imports and exports will help strengthen China's ability to resist risks and its potential for sustainable development. Recently, the executive meeting of the State Council deployed a package of policies and measures to stabilize the economy, including measures to support the development of private enterprises and ensure smooth logistics.

Li Fei, assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said that next, the Ministry of Commerce would accelerate the development of new business types and models such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade, actively support the export of key products such as new energy vehicles, unblock the order channels for international trade enterprises, provide more convenience for enterprises to participate in exhibitions and negotiate, and help enterprises improve their ability to cope with risks such as exchange rates.

Zhang Yu said that with the effectiveness of a package of policies to stabilize the economy and the refinement and implementation of successive policies, China's international trade is still expected to continue to operate within a reasonable range, making new contributions to stabilizing the macroeconomic market.