General

The "stability" of China's foreign trade is very valuable under the influence of many factors such as the resurgence of the domestic epidemic, the obstruction of the operation of the industrial chain and the supply chain, the increased difficulty in the delivery of some foreign trade enterprises, and the continued tightening of monetary policies in developed economies, as well as the decline in overseas demand and orders.

The latest customs data shows that in the first 10 months, China's total import and export value increased by 9.5% year on year, the import growth rate was the same as that in the first three quarters, the export fell slightly, and the trade surplus hit a new high since the data records. The slowdown in growth for three consecutive months has triggered concern about the follow-up impetus of China's foreign trade.

Where does the resilience of foreign trade come from? In this regard, Shi Xianjin, an assistant researcher in the International Trade Research Office of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the International Business Daily that stabilizing and improving quality is still the general direction of China's foreign trade. In addition to paying attention to the periodic foreign trade transcripts, we should also see the highlights of China's structural advantages in foreign trade. Because the structural advantage highlights the confidence and strength.

Shi Xianjin believes that the first highlight is market diversification: China's trade with neighboring countries has a good growth momentum, and the diversified market layout has made significant achievements.

According to customs data, from January to September, China's total trade with neighboring countries reached 2163.8 billion US dollars, up 15.7% year on year, accounting for 45.5% of China's foreign trade. According to the order of export growth rate from high to low, we can see that 5 countries in Central Asia, 17 countries in West Asia, 14 countries in Oceania, 7 countries in South Asia, 10 countries in ASEAN, etc. have performed well.

It is particularly important to mention ASEAN. After the external demand of the developed economies in Europe and the United States weakened, ASEAN's supporting role in China's exports became more prominent. In October, the trade with the ASEAN market drove China's exports by 2.7 percentage points. Although it declined from last month, it was significantly better than other economies. Take Jiangsu, a big open economy province, for example. Since this year, Jiangsu and ASEAN have complementary economies, and the advantages of close links between industrial chains and supply chains are further emerging. According to the statistics of Nanjing Customs, in the first 10 months of this year, the economic and trade cooperation between Jiangsu and ASEAN countries flourished, with a total import and export volume of 677.72 billion yuan, up 14% year on year.

Jointly building the "the Belt and Road" has become a popular international public goods and international cooperation platform. In the first 10 months, China's trade with countries along the "the Belt and Road" has maintained a rapid growth, with the year-on-year growth rate 11.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of national foreign trade, driving the overall import and export growth of 6.1 percentage points.

"The second highlight is the Free Trade Agreement. China's trade agreements with some countries are progressing smoothly, and its integration into the value chain of the Asian region continues to increase." Shi Xianjin pointed out that with the launch of RCEP, the world's largest free trade zone, at the beginning of the year, the "China New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Upgrading Protocol" and the "China Cambodia Free Trade Agreement" officially entered into force, the follow-up negotiations on the "China Singapore Free Trade Agreement Upgrading" achieved positive progress, and China and Arab States actively promoted the "China GCC Free Trade Agreement Negotiation", China and the ROK have actively promoted the second phase of the FTA negotiations, which has brought more broad prospects for China's foreign trade.

Taking Jiangsu as an example, according to customs data, from January to October this year, Jiangsu Province issued 121000 RCEP certificates of origin, with an export value of 41.998 billion yuan, ranking first in the country. It is estimated that relevant enterprises can enjoy tariff concessions of nearly 336 million yuan from other RCEP member countries, and import tariff concessions of 186 million yuan.

The third highlight is the traditional market. From the accumulated customs data in the first 10 months of this year, China's export growth to the United States, the European Union, Japan and other traditional markets is also good. The growth rate in dollar terms is 6.2% in Japan, 14.0% in the European Union, and 6.6% in the United States. "At the end of the year, the West will usher in a series of festivals. According to the experience of previous years, there will be a slight upward trend in exports, and there are still expected factors for trade growth. In addition, the fall in U.S. inflation may indicate that the Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of interest rate increases, and the performance of foreign demand may not be as bad as expected." Shi Xianjin said.

The fourth highlight is the policy. The relaxation of China's entry quarantine policy for people and goods, as well as the active exploration of measures to stabilize the economy in many domestic regions, are conducive to promoting domestic demand growth, ensuring the stability of domestic supply chain, and enhancing trade stability.

The vitality of foreign trade operators has always been the main driving force for the steady development of China's foreign trade. In the first 10 months, more than half of China's total foreign trade came from private enterprises, up 2.2 percentage points over the same period last year.

Recently, 252 pieces of wooden furniture from Jiangyin Youbang Household Products Co., Ltd. successfully passed the pre export quarantine and will be exported to IKEA IKEA's overseas warehouse in Malaysia by ship. As a private enterprise engaged in the manufacture of bamboo, wood and grass furniture, Jiangyin Youbang Household Products Co., Ltd. is also a supplier of IKEA. Since last year, the enterprise has exported wooden furniture to IKEA's overseas warehouses through general trade, realizing direct sales and distribution of products in foreign and local markets. While saving logistics costs and time costs, it has helped customers easily return and replace goods, greatly improving their shopping experience.

"Relying on IKEA's overseas warehouse established in Malaysia, the company's export of goods in the first 10 months amounted to about 30 million yuan, covering clothes racks, metal shelves, small tables and chairs, bar tables and other household items, realizing the fast supply mode of" no orders, goods first "." Chen Mengnan, the sales department manager of AIA, said, "With the increase of overseas market demand, the company will innovate and provide more new products next year, and deliver more Chinese style new ways of living in homes based on IKEA's overseas warehouses in Malaysia, Germany, Spain, France and other countries."