General

On December 7, according to customs data, China's total import and export value in the first 11 months was 38.34 trillion yuan, up 8.6% year on year. According to customs data, the export was 21.84 trillion yuan, up 11.9%; Imports reached 16.5 trillion yuan, up 4.6%; The trade surplus was 5.34 trillion yuan, an increase of 42.8%.

Although the year-on-year growth rate of foreign trade slowed down to 0.1% in November against the background of slowing overseas demand, the experts interviewed believed that, from the perspective of the whole year, the first 11 months of foreign trade still maintained a steady growth on the basis of last year's high base, and the optimization of foreign trade structure and improvement of quality and efficiency continued to improve. The export of mechanical and electrical products, especially high-tech products, grew rapidly in the first 11 months, fully reflecting the resilience of foreign trade development, It has laid a solid foundation for the long-term and stable development of foreign trade.

The toughness of foreign trade development is still sufficient

According to the customs data, the export growth rate in the first 11 months still maintained a double-digit growth, of which the growth rate of mechanical and electrical products was remarkable. According to statistics, the export of mechanical and electrical products in the first 11 months was 12.47 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.4%, accounting for 57.1% of the total export value. According to customs data, the export of automobiles was 363.76 billion yuan, up 79.3%; The export of electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells increased by 128%, 86.6% and 74.3% respectively.

"These data not only demonstrate the international competitiveness of Made in China, but also reflect that China's export structure is moving towards the middle and high-end, promoting industrial upgrading through structural optimization, and accelerating the construction of a manufacturing power and a quality power." Yan Min, director of the Macroeconomic Research Office of the Economic Forecast Department of the National Information Center, interpreted this.

"In the current context, China's foreign trade growth of 8.6% in the first 11 months is still very commendable." Wang Jianhui, a senior researcher of industrial economy, said, "At the same time, we should also see that China's foreign trade is facing multiple challenges such as weak external demand, rising costs and weak global economic growth."

However, Wang Jianhui stressed that, although the pressure and challenges of foreign trade growth are increasing, more attention should be paid to the data such as the same direction comparison and market share, from which the quality and tenacity of China's foreign trade growth can be seen.

According to the customs data, in terms of trade mode, the import and export of general trade in the first 11 months was 24.47 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.4%, accounting for 63.8% of the total foreign trade value, 2.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year. From the perspective of trade partners, China's import and export to ASEAN, the European Union, the United States and other major trade partners maintained growth, of which China's export to ASEAN was 3.42 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.2%, maintaining a significant high; The import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" totaled 12.54 trillion yuan, up 20.4% year on year, 11.8 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of national foreign trade, driving the overall import and export growth by 6 percentage points. From the perspective of foreign trade entities, the import and export of private enterprises grew rapidly. In the first 11 months, the import and export of private enterprises reached 19.41 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.6%, accounting for 50.6% of China's total foreign trade value, 2.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

Continuous release of policy effects

Looking ahead, how will the foreign trade situation change? What are the growth opportunities?

In this regard, Liu Jianying, an associate researcher of the Institute of Foreign Trade of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that although the current global economic situation and external demand and other factors affect the growth of foreign trade, there are at least three major opportunities for foreign trade to maintain growth: First, a series of China's policies and measures to stabilize the economy and foreign trade and stabilize foreign investment have increased their effectiveness, and the joint force of the policies to stabilize foreign trade has accelerated its formation, and the policy superposition effect will continue to release; Second, high-level opening-up will provide more surging and lasting impetus for the development of foreign trade, including the Free Trade Agreement, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the "the Belt and Road" construction and other benefits will continue to be released; Third, the momentum of foreign trade innovation and development has been continuously enhanced, especially the development of new business forms and models, such as the addition of 29 import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, the establishment of 33 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, the addition of 14 regions to carry out second-hand car export business, the introduction of policies and measures to further support the development of cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouses, and the launch of the second phase of the service trade innovation and development guidance fund, which will release momentum for improving the quality and efficiency of foreign trade.

Wang Jianhui said that as China continued to introduce measures to stabilize the economy, and the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, the benefits to production recovery and economic recovery continued to increase, which was conducive to boosting enterprise confidence, further enhancing the stability of the supply chain of the industrial chain, and enhancing the competitiveness of foreign trade enterprises in the global market, thus providing impetus for the steady growth of foreign trade.

As for the development of foreign trade enterprises, Cai Jiaxiang, Vice President of China Association of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Enterprises, said in an interview with the International Business Daily that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have always attached great importance to stabilizing foreign trade, and relevant support policies are positive and stable. In terms of exchange rate, the recent devaluation of RMB against the US dollar is nearly 10%, which objectively stimulates exports. With the reduction of overstock in overseas markets and the gradual recovery of production order of Chinese enterprises, export opportunities remain large.

At the regular press conference held a few days ago, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, Shu Jueting, also said that it should be noted that China's foreign trade development still has strong support, the foreign trade industry has a good foundation, the enterprise's ability to perform contracts and innovate has been continuously enhanced, the effect of stabilizing foreign trade policy continues to release, the number of international flights has increased significantly, and the foreign trade operation in the fourth quarter will continue to maintain a reasonable range.