General

According to customs data, China's foreign trade is resilient with a year-on-year growth of 8.6%

According to the customs data released by the General Administration of Customs on December 7, the total import and export value of China's goods trade in the first 11 months of 2022 was 38.34 trillion yuan, up 8.6% year on year. This "report card" shows that although China's foreign trade is under pressure, its resilience remains unchanged, which is of great significance for stabilizing the overall economic market.

A closer look at this "report card" shows that there are many remarkable points. As far as trade partners are concerned, China's foreign trade "circle of friends" is growing larger and larger, maintaining close trade contacts with ASEAN, the European Union, the United States and other countries and regions. According to customs data, the total trade value between China and ASEAN in the first 11 months increased by 15.5% year on year, and China's exports to ASEAN grew by 22.2% year on year, far exceeding the overall growth rate of China's exports in the same period. According to customs data, China's total import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" reached 12.54 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.4%... A series of eye-catching data highlights China's closer trade relations with the global market, allowing the so-called "decoupling theory" to break down. The article published by German Prime Minister Schultz in Foreign Affairs recently attracted wide attention. The article said that "China's rise is not a reason to isolate China, nor an excuse to restrict cooperation with China". This view is very representative. China has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and the total volume of goods trade ranks first in the world. Whether it is the resilience or influence of China's economy, it determines that no rational economy will "decouple" from China.

Facing a series of difficulties and challenges, it is not easy for China's foreign trade to steadily move forward on a high base. Cao Heping, a professor at the School of Economics of Peking University, said that governments and enterprises at all levels have worked hard to overcome the impact of the COVID-19, made every effort to ensure production and stabilize production, promoted the rapid recovery of production and life order, provided a good environment for production and export, and kept the power of China's import and export to the greatest extent. China has formed an independent and complete modern industrial system. It is the only country in the world that has all the industrial categories in the UN industrial classification. The obvious industrial scale and supporting advantages make China's foreign trade development resilient and irreplaceable in the global industrial chain supply chain. In particular, the new advantages and new momentum of China's manufacturing industry have boosted the high-quality development of China's foreign trade. In addition, new forms and models of trade have accelerated development, helping China's foreign trade break out against the trend. According to customs data, in 2021, the import and export scale of China's cross-border e-commerce will reach 1.98 trillion yuan, the number of foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises will exceed 1500, and the number of overseas warehouses will exceed 2000.

In general, China's foreign trade has progressed steadily. We should also see that the growth rate of imports and exports slowed down in November. Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, analyzed that the vulnerability of the world economy has become more prominent due to the Russian Ukrainian conflict and other factors, and China's foreign trade is facing the challenge of weakening foreign demand. In the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, where China's foreign trade import and export are leading, the epidemic has also brought varying degrees of impact. Although there are many difficulties and challenges in stabilizing the basic foreign trade market, China still has many favorable conditions for stable growth of foreign trade and will continue to make positive contributions to the recovery of the national economy. For example, the "New Ten Rules" issued on December 7 to optimize the implementation of epidemic prevention and control will effectively increase the social mobility required for import and export, and promote the prospects of China's foreign trade. Bai Ming believes that we should start with the transformation of the development mode of foreign trade and strive to enhance the competitiveness of foreign trade; Consolidate the industrial foundation for the development of foreign trade and actively develop new models and formats of foreign trade; We will make good use of the dividends released from the high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) to drive the continued high-quality development of foreign trade next year.