General

Under the background of Sino US trade friction, how can international trade enterprises take advantage of RCEP to develop overseas markets? The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into force on January 1 this year.

The population, GDP and total trade of RCEP member countries account for about 30% of the world's total. It is a free trade area with the largest population, the largest economic and trade scale and the greatest development potential in the world.

Over time, the dividend of RCEP policy has been released continuously. After the RCEP came into effect, the tariff and non-tariff barriers were greatly reduced, which greatly stimulated the trade creation effect and further promoted the mutual promotion of trade and investment.

RCEP not only provides new opportunities for China's advantageous agricultural, light industrial, textile and other products to expand their exports to the RCEP market, but also creates favorable conditions for China's automobile, machinery, electronics and other products to expand the import of raw materials and parts and improve the competitiveness of products.

The data shows that in the first seven months, the import and export of China and the other 14 member countries of RCEP increased by 7.5% year on year. Over the same period, China's trade with countries along the "the Belt and Road" has become closer, with imports and exports increasing by 19.8% year on year.

Next, the dividends of RCEP landing will be further released. Some member states have gradually completed the approval of RCEP. At present, RCEP has not yet entered into force for Indonesia and the Philippines.

It is worth noting that at present, the market players using the RCEP policy are mainly large enterprises, and the potential of SMEs is far from being released.

How can foreign trade enterprises seize the opportunity?

For small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises, the formal entry into force of RCEP means great benefits and opportunities, but it is also a double-edged sword.

"Zero tariff" and cumulative rules of origin deepen the deep integration of regional industrial chains, and enterprises can flexibly choose low-cost, high-quality and competitive products, which will force enterprises to accelerate transformation and upgrading.

After the RCEP takes effect, the circulation of factors in the region will be more convenient, which will accelerate the transfer of labor-intensive industries to low-cost regions in Southeast Asia. At the same time, technology intensive products from Japan and South Korea will also bring greater competition to Chinese enterprises.

Challenges and opportunities coexist. How can small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises seize the policy dividend brought by RCEP, form new advantages for their own development, and expand overseas markets?

01 Seize the new opportunities of RCEP and actively adapt to the rules of RCEP

In the past six months, many international trade enterprises in China have fully benefited from the tariff preferences, customs clearance simplification, trade and investment facilitation and other dividends brought about by the RCEP. However, some foreign trade enterprises do not pay enough attention to RCEP and think that the effective implementation of RCEP has little impact on their own business, so it is unclear that they will enjoy dividends after the effective implementation of RCEP.

To seize the opportunity of RCEP, foreign trade enterprises must learn to make good use of the RCEP rules and international prevailing rules, and effectively use the RCEP rules to expand the international trade market.

On the one hand, enterprises should conduct a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the RCEP policy, be familiar with the rules of the agreement, understand the tariff preference commitments of the RCEP countries, make good use of favorable factors such as tariff reduction, elimination of non-tariff barriers, and rules of accumulation of origin, and enjoy the lower threshold of benefits for the original production of RCEP. On the other hand, enterprises should also pay attention to the latest policies and news released by governments at all levels, and actively participate in the RCEP promotion activities and related training organized by the government.

02 Build diversified customer acquisition channels to further expand overseas markets

The dividend of RCEP policy is being released continuously. Foreign trade enterprises should also combine their own advantages and characteristics, innovate ways to obtain customers, actively "go global", and actively develop the international trade market.

In the face of new opportunities, foreign trade enterprises should turn passivity into initiative, build diversified channels to obtain customers, and accelerate the opening of a new era of full link customer acquisition.

Take the initiative to get customers

Active development has gradually become the main way to obtain customers in the foreign trade industry. The traditional active customer acquisition channel is to mine customers through search engines, maps and customs data, and manually enter keyword groups one by one to search for target customers, which is heavy and inefficient.

The rise of social media platforms in recent years has brought new ways for foreign traders to actively market. These platforms are mainly divided into the following three categories: 1. Graphic platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc; 2. Video platforms, such as TikTok, YouTube, etc; 3. Chat platforms, such as WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, etc. Foreign traders will also actively market products through these social media platforms. This way of communication is quick and intuitive, and can directly search for demand information. However, the platform is highly competitive and requires high capacity of operators.

Active customer acquisition requires big data as a support, and a good tool can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Relying on big data and AI emerging technologies, Huacheng Chuangzhi System supports industry keyword search and map intelligent search, integrates 508 mainstream search engines and 25 general search engines around the world, captures massive customs data and global enterprise information, and its search results cover 187 foreign trade countries and regions around the world, helping users find potential customers quickly.

The automatic email marketing function of the system is convenient and fast. It supports email verification, reaches the target customer group across the globe, and eliminates the need to manually send emails one by one, greatly saving users' time, thus improving the efficiency of customer development.

03 Strengthen the cultivation of professional talents and expand the trade space

Talents are the core competitiveness of enterprises. It has been half a year since the formal implementation of RCEP, and the advantages of wide application scope of cumulative rules of origin are gradually highlighted, providing more options for Chinese enterprises to broaden the market.

Enterprises should strengthen the training of professionals, train and reserve professionals who are familiar with RCEP rules, origin business and the implementation and utilization of free trade agreements in a planned way, and establish a talent team that is familiar with regional industry conditions, proficient in rules of origin, and has strong foreign language ability. Enterprises learn more about the market opportunities under the RCEP framework, which is helpful to broaden the trade space.

In order to help Chinese foreign trade enterprises seize the policy dividend brought by RCEP, Huacheng Chuangzhi will continue to provide intelligent foreign trade products and services based on big data, provide accurate and efficient solutions to expand the international trade market, and help Chinese foreign trade enterprises accelerate their export!