New trends of foreign trade operations from January to August in China

On 9th September, the person in charge of the China Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce introduced the operation of my country's foreign trade from January to August 2020.

Since the beginning of this year, in the face of the severe challenges posed by the sudden epidemic to the development of foreign trade, the Ministry of Commerce has resolutely implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, solidly carried out the "six stability" work, fully implemented the "six guarantees" task, and closely followed changes in the foreign trade situation. Together with various regions and departments, we have promoted the introduction of a series of foreign trade stabilization policies and measures in a timely manner and implemented them so as to effectively help foreign trade enterprises alleviate their difficulties. Various tasks have achieved positive progress and foreign trade has stabilized and improved. From January to August, my country’s total import and export volume was 20.05 trillion yuan, down 0.6% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 11.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.8%; imports were 9 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.3%. From an international comparison, China's import and export performance is also better than the average level of major global economies. From January to August, foreign trade operations mainly showed the following characteristics:

One is the prominent role of the "stabilizer" of private enterprises. Private enterprises showed strong resilience and made outstanding contributions to stabilizing foreign trade. Exports increased by 8.3%, which increased the overall export growth rate by 4.2 percentage points, and their share increased by 3.8 percentage points to 54.9%.

Second, the proportion of exports from emerging markets continued to increase. The proportion of my exports to emerging markets increased by 0.1 percentage point to 48.8%. Among them, exports to ASEAN increased by 6.9%, and ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner.

The third is to accelerate the development of export-oriented economy in the central and western regions. The central and western regions have achieved success in undertaking the industrial gradient transfer from the eastern region. Exports increased by 6.8%, which was 6 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, and its proportion increased by 1.1 percentage points to 18.6%.

Fourth, the export of high-tech and high value-added products grew strongly. The export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 2.1%, and its proportion increased by 0.7 percentage points to 58.5%. Among them, the growth rate of exports of integrated circuits, home appliances, mobile phones and computers reached 14.7%, 14.1%, 8.9% and 8.4% respectively. Driven by the export of anti-epidemic materials such as masks and gloves, the export of textiles and plastic products increased by 37.8% and 14.5%. Labor-intensive products are greatly affected by the epidemic, and exports are relatively weak.

Fifth, the industrial foundation is stable and general trade continues to strengthen. General trade exports increased by 2.5%, driving the overall export growth rate by 1.5%, and its proportion increased by 1% to 59.6%. Exports of processing trade fell by 6.6%, and its share fell by 2.1 percentage points to 26.9%.

Sixth, new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce have become new bright spots in foreign trade growth. The policy environment and business environment for new foreign trade formats have been continuously optimized, and the vitality of market entities has been continuously stimulated. Cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade and exports have grown against the trend, both increasing by more than double digits.

Under the complex and severe situation this year, the recovery of foreign trade to stabilize and improve, better than expected, is basically due to the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core. Thanks to the timely promulgation of a series of powerful and effective foreign trade stabilization policies and measures by the State Council. Without opening the majority of foreign trade enterprises to face difficulties, innovate and develop, do everything possible to grasp orders and expand the market.

At the same time, we must also see that the current epidemic is still spreading globally, the world economy is in a deep recession, international trade demand has shrunk sharply, the global industrial chain and supply chain is blocked, economic globalization is facing a countercurrent, protectionism and unilateralism are rising, uncertainty, The instability has obviously increased, and the situation facing my country's foreign trade development has become more complicated and severe.

In order to do a solid job in foreign trade throughout the year, the Ministry of Commerce held a national foreign trade stabilization work conference in Fujian on August 28 to study and judge the situation, interpret policies, consolidate responsibilities, and pay close attention to implementation. In the next step, we will continue to take Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era as the guide, promote the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the mutual promotion of domestic and international double cycles, and coordinate the promotion of normalized epidemic prevention and control and business reform and development. Accelerate the cultivation of new forms of foreign trade, stabilize processing trade, actively expand imports, carefully organize the 128th Canton Fair and the 3rd China International Import Expo, focus on ensuring market players, ensuring market share, ensuring the stability of the industrial chain supply chain, and promoting foreign trade innovation For development, we will do everything possible to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment, and go all out to complete the annual goals and tasks.