General

At the beginning of 2022, RCEP will officially take effect. At present, 13 of the 15 signatory members have entered into force. As a free trade agreement with the largest population, the largest economic and trade scale and the greatest development potential in the world, RCEP has brought huge trade potential to member countries.

Not long ago, the Commerce Industry Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), together with XTransfer, a one-stop cross-border financial and risk control service company for international trade enterprises, officially released the Regional Activity Index of Export RCEP of China's Small, Medium and Micro sized Foreign Trade Enterprises from January to August 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the Report). The Report focuses on the export development situation of China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises since the RCEP came into effect.

"RCEP not only brings tangible dividends to the vast number of international trade import and export enterprises and consumers, but also helps countries in the region to enhance their comprehensive trade competitiveness and strengthen win-win cooperation," the report said.

The trade promotion effect of RCEP on SMEs is emerging

Less than a year after its entry into force, the "circle of friends" of RCEP member countries has been expanding, and "win-win" has become the key word. The reduction of commodity tariffs further stimulated the trade flow of member countries in the region. On the day of entry into force, the immediate zero tariff ratio between China and ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand exceeded 65%, the immediate zero tariff ratio with South Korea reached 39% and 50% respectively, and the immediate zero tariff ratio with Japan reached 25% and 57% respectively.

With the continuous release of the dividend of the RCEP policy, China's small, medium and micro international trade enterprises' export RCEP regional activity index is very resilient. The Report shows that from January to August 2022, China's small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises realized a positive growth in the amount of receipts from all trade partners in the RCEP region.

According to the Report, from January to March, affected by the "Spring Festival Effect", the regional activity index of RCEP fell slightly; From March to May, influenced by the traditional festivals of important export destination countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, the RCEP regional activity index showed a downward trend and fell back to the lowest value in May; After May, thanks to the effective control of China's COVID-19 and the rising demand of the countries in the RCEP region, the regional activity index of the RCEP has recovered steadily after a short repair.

It is worth mentioning that from January to August 2022, the number of Chinese small, medium and micro international trade enterprises exporting to countries in the RCEP region increased by 36.4% year on year. Over the same period, the proportion of receipts of small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in the export RCEP region increased by 2.79%.

"Against the complex and severe international situation, the trade promotion effect of RCEP on China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises is rapidly emerging," said the Report.

The export level of SMEs to Japan and South Korea exceeded 30%

From the perspective of export destinations, the top three destination countries for Chinese small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises to export to the RCEP region are: South Korea, Japan, and Singapore; The top three destination countries with the growth rate of receipts are: Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.

The Report shows that the collection amount of China's small, medium-sized and micro international trade enterprises exported to South Korea and Japan is at a high level, accounting for 32.1% of the total collection amount in the RCEP region.

"The formal entry into force of RCEP is the first time that China and Japan have established a free trade relationship. Japan has implemented zero tariffs on 88% of China's goods. This is also the first time that China, Japan and the ROK have reached a common free trade agreement, which is conducive to the economic and trade integration of Northeast Asia," the report said.

Compared with other RCEP member countries, China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises' receipts from exports to Vietnam decreased slightly. According to the analysis of the Report, the possible reasons are that Vietnam and China have certain competitiveness in the international market in machinery and textile industries, and their dependence on China's supply chain has weakened. Considering that Vietnam's tariff preferences for these two types of products in China are not in place at the same time, the RCEP policy plays a relatively small role in promoting.

From the perspective of export regions, the top three provinces (cities) of China's small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises in terms of export receipts in RCEP regions are Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang respectively.

The top three export destinations of Guangdong small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in terms of receipts from RCEP region are: South Korea, Japan and Singapore. Among them, Singapore has a strong demand for high value-added goods such as electronics and machinery, mainly to meet the needs of its manufacturing and construction industries.

The top three export destinations of the collection amount of small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai to the RCEP region are: Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. Among them, due to its own technology, infrastructure and other factors, Indonesia's manufacturing industry relies more on China's raw materials, machinery and other supporting industries to complete production.

The top three export destinations of Zhejiang small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises in terms of receipts from RCEP are Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Among them, the Philippines, as a country in the RCEP region with a large total import volume and year-on-year growth rate to China, further boosted its trade demand for mechanical commodities such as transportation equipment accessories.

Digitalization becomes the cornerstone of "one step ahead" for small, medium-sized and micro enterprises

The steady growth of foreign trade is mainly due to the continuous diversification of trade "circle of friends". The Report shows that from January to August 2022, China's small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises' international trade exports to all trade partners in the RCEP region will grow, which not only reflects China's foreign trade resilience, but also brings greater development space for the future.

At present, digitalization has greatly reduced the threshold for various enterprises to participate in international trade, while small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises have gained international cooperation opportunities through digital transformation with greater flexibility. Taking cross-border e-commerce as an example, the Report points out that the characteristics of online, small batch and high frequency are becoming the cornerstone of small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises to "take the lead".

"With the deepening of RCEP cooperation and the implementation of policies, the regional national industrial chain supply chain has achieved further complementary advantages and deep integration, which will be a new opportunity for small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises to better explore the international market and deepen international cooperation. At the same time, we should clearly realize that there are still many small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises who are unfamiliar with RCEP, and need to spend time, find ways, learn more, and get familiar with and make good use of FTA And better enjoy the dividend of regional opening up. " According to the Report.

Since the RCEP came into effect, the commercial industry members of CCPIT have cooperated with relevant departments to carry out special research on RCEP, actively organized several special sharing meetings on interpretation and application of RCEP, and cooperated with local trade promotion agencies to help enterprises learn and grasp the rules of RCEP, seize new opportunities for development, and effectively serve foreign trade enterprises.

Nanning Initiative Calls on SMEs to Improve the Ability of Using RCEP

Recently, the 2nd RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation Business Summit Forum and High Quality Implementation of RCEP Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Forum) hosted by CCPIT was held. Gao Yunlong, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and Chairman of the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said at the forum that at present, the international pattern is accelerating its evolution, and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing rapidly. China firmly advocates building an open world economy and firmly upholds the multilateral trading system.

Gao Yunlong pointed out that industrial and commercial enterprises are an important force in the practice of RCEP. They should seize the opportunities brought by the implementation of RCEP, fully understand and make good use of the preferential policies of member countries such as tariff reduction and cumulative rules of origin in the region, actively explore the international market, and expand the export of competitive products and the import of high-quality goods; Actively adapt to the more open environment and full competition of the regional market, accelerate the industrial transformation and upgrading, and enhance the ability to participate in the regional market competition; Strengthen communication with relevant government departments, actively reflect the practical problems encountered in the implementation of the Agreement and put forward suggestions, promote further cooperation among governments of member countries and constantly optimize the business environment.

"It is hoped that the business communities of all countries will strengthen solidarity and cooperation, jointly contribute to the high-quality implementation of RCEP, promote economic recovery, and build a closer community of shared future," said Gao Yunlong.

Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of CCPIT, said at the forum that we should further play the important role of RCEP in regional economic cooperation, promote the high-quality implementation of RCEP, make full use of RCEP policies and rules, and maintain the stability of the regional industrial chain supply chain.

"CCPIT will pay close attention to the needs of market players, continue to improve the promotion and implementation services of RCEP, help enterprises fully apply the rules of RCEP, seize market opportunities, investment opportunities, growth opportunities, and better integrate into the regional market," said Zhang Shaogang.

At the forum site, 40 business associations of RCEP member countries jointly launched the "Nanning Initiative on Jointly Implementing RCEP with High Quality to Promote Higher Level Regional Economic Integration". It is reported that this initiative will give full play to the positive role of the business community in the implementation of RCEP, accelerate the release of RCEP dividends, and better benefit the people of all countries in the region. The initiative expects that RCEP member states attach importance to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, actively guide small and medium-sized enterprises to seize the opportunities of RCEP and expand overseas markets, help enterprises understand the needs of different markets in the region, laws and rules related to investment through training and lectures, and encourage enterprises to fully incorporate the expansion of economic and trade cooperation and high-quality implementation of RCEP into their international business strategies, Help enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, comprehensively improve their ability to use RCEP to expand the international trade market.