China News Service, Hangzhou, May 12 (Chai Yanfei, Zhang Bin, Hu Dingyu) Under the global epidemic, Zhejiang, China's foreign trade province, is facing new challenges.
Up to now, there have been more than 4 million confirmed cases of new crowns worldwide, affecting more than 200 countries and regions. In this common disaster for mankind, global trade bears the brunt—In the first quarter of this year, China ’s total imports and exports of “World Factory” were 6.57 trillion yuan (all RMB not mentioned below), a decrease of 6.4%. In Zhejiang, where exports accounted for more than one-tenth of the country, exports fell by 10.4%, a percentage point lower than the national decline.
Under the global epidemic, Zhejiang Foreign Trade is trying to become more "smart" with the current difficulties and future changes in mind.
Where is the difficulty: the epidemic situation "shocks" the foreign trade industry
"Middle and late March to April, the orders of most enterprises in our park are decreasing." Cai Meili, Director of Investment Promotion, Industrial Park, Xiaoshan Development Zone, China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-Commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zone.
Cai Xiuli ’s industrial park is the first batch of pilot “government-led, enterprise operation” cross-border e-commerce parks in Hangzhou, where more than 120 large, medium and small-sized enterprises are engaged in foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce import and export, and other related businesses. In 2019, the park's import and export volume reached 200 million US dollars, a rapid increase of 40% year-on-year, of which exports accounted for 94%.
Entering 2020, the good growth momentum suddenly encountered the new coronary pneumonia epidemic.
Cai Meili introduced that in February this year, due to the stagnation of the company's production, foreign trade orders were "not delivered"; from March to April, the overseas epidemic continued to spread, and companies that had resumed production resumed delivery to customers, and some customers canceled. Order. "In the first quarter of this year, the import and export volume of the park decreased by 20% year-on-year. Many of the policies issued by the government have been implemented in enterprises, and our park has also exempted the enterprises from renting for two months, hoping to ride through the difficulties with them."
The performance of the industrial park of Xiaoshan Development Zone in the comprehensive pilot zone of China (Hangzhou) cross-border e-commerce reflects the general situation of Zhejiang's foreign trade industrial chain under the impact of the epidemic. In Ningbo, an important foreign trade town in Zhejiang, many small and medium-sized enterprises on the Sino-Ningbo Ningbo Group's comprehensive foreign trade service platform faced challenges due to the epidemic situation.
"At the beginning of the epidemic, we told customers whether we could delay delivery; later, customers told us whether we could delay delivery; later, customers said whether they could delay payment or cancel orders." Ying Xiuzhen, vice president of Sinobase Ningbo Group Say. "In the first quarter, we originally expected the business volume to decline by about 25%, and the actual situation was better than expected."
Huang Xianhai, Dean of the School of Economics at Zhejiang University, pointed out that Zhejiang and the European and American countries are highly interdependent, and the epidemic situation in these areas is spreading, so it is difficult for Zhejiang to be alone. The partial cancellation of the order in hand is only one aspect of the impact of the overseas epidemic on Zhejiang's economy. Next, companies exhibiting overseas and receiving orders will be affected to varying degrees. "For example, the current professional exhibitions that were originally scheduled to be held in Europe were cancelled or postponed due to the epidemic, which made it more difficult for companies to expand the market. At the same time, the epidemic also led to the adjustment of shipping and flights, and the cost of international logistics rose sharply, which also increased Performance costs. "
How to solve it: "Trying everything possible" in the industry
"Bridge across the water, open the road every mountain" is the "instinctive response" of Zhejiang enterprises. In the first quarter of this year, Zhejiang's private enterprise exports fell by 9.2%, accounting for 78.9% of the province's exports, and the proportion increased by 1 percentage point against the trend. Zhejiang's foreign trade, with private enterprises as the main body, once again highlights its resilience.
"We have built a live broadcast room and a VR exhibition hall. The next step is to make these online forms normalized, help small and medium-sized enterprises on the platform to adapt to the normal epidemic situation, and expand overseas markets." Ying Xiuzhen said.
It is the common choice of many Zhejiang foreign trade enterprises to adopt digitalization to achieve transformation and upgrade and seek "breakthrough" under the epidemic situation.
Recently, Xu Weifeng, general manager of Hangzhou Guyou Import and Export Co., Ltd., was busy with a "cloud live broadcast" event for his company's overseas customers in May this year. His enterprise is a private foreign trade company engaged in import and export, cross-border e-commerce business, mainly sells sanitary ware and other products to Europe, the United States and other markets. In 2019, the company's export sales exceeded USD 20 million.
"We hope to give overseas customers confidence through 'cloud live broadcasting'." Xu Weifeng said that at this time every year, companies will go abroad to visit customers or invite customers to visit the factory. This year, for the first time, he tried to use WeChat (WeChat) and the overseas customer "cloud live broadcast" factory isolated at home to introduce its resumption of work and new products. "The customer response was good, and he proposed to place an order at that time."
Xu Weifeng told reporters that at present, companies are offsetting the impact of the epidemic by strengthening the construction of overseas warehouses, placing advertisements for the company's overseas e-commerce platform, and the newly explored "cloud live broadcast". For example, in the first quarter of this year, the company's newly developed B2C business achieved a growth of 30%. "The epidemic will eventually come to an end, and by then, whoever prepares more will be able to take the lead in the market."
Lan Jian, president of Zhejiang Provincial Business Research Institute, said that in the face of the impact of the epidemic, Zhejiang took advantage of the digital economy and vigorously developed new formats and models. At the same time, it will make full use of the online convention and exhibition platform to provide online transaction consultation services for foreign trade enterprises in key epidemic-stricken areas, which has actively promoted new orders from overseas.
Where to go: use the "window period" for transformation and upgrading
Although the epidemic situation is difficult, it seems to be full of opportunities.
"Historically, every time our foreign trade is hit, it will basically go up a step, which reflects the strength of Zhejiang entrepreneurs and the resilience of Zhejiang's economy." An official from the Ningbo Department of Commerce previously said in an interview with a reporter , Telling the simple philosophy of "dependence on blessing and misfortune" in Chinese culture and the resilience of Zhejiang's economy.
"Although the risks and challenges brought by this epidemic are more severe than in the past, they are also a rare 'time window'." Han Jie, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and first-level inspector, said that since the outbreak, the province's foreign trade has been Facing the risks and impacts of the spread of the global epidemic situation, the turmoil in the international financial market, and the interweaving of the "three elements" of economic and trade friction. "I hope that enterprises will actively carry out self-rescue, optimize product structure and customer distribution, improve employee vocational skills, jump out of the traditional order-taking and sales platform, actively embrace digital transformation, and open up overseas independent sales channels while making good use of policies. "
To help foreign trade companies survive and grow in the "time window", all parties including Zhejiang officials have "worked hard". For example, the Zhejiang commercial department has arranged dozens of online exhibitions and online fairs to create conditions and provide services for foreign trade enterprises to obtain orders. In addition, officials at all levels in the province also walked into the enterprise to help guide them on specific issues. Statistics show that although the total export volume of Zhejiang declined in the first quarter of this year, its export growth rate was 1.0 percentage points higher than that of the whole country, accounting for 13.2% of the national share.
"No matter from what aspect this epidemic is worth, there are many places where we are 'smart'." Wang Meifu, chief statistician of the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics, believes that Zhejiang private enterprises are good at "avoiding danger as an opportunity", which affects or promotes the transformation of foreign trade in the province The pace of upgrading.
From the perspective of balancing domestic and foreign markets, he pointed out that in 2019, China ’s per capita GDP exceeded 10,000 US dollars, and the domestic market has huge room for development; according to some international organizations, the global economy and global trade will decline this year. "In this case, Foreign trade enterprises can't have the idea of 'waiting,' or they must coordinate the 'two markets'. "
"In short, in front of the epidemic, no matter which aspect, we must find our own shortcomings, find our own development space, and make ourselves more 'smarter'." Wang Meifu said.
At the moment, Zhejiang is "striving to become an important window to fully demonstrate the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics in the new era." And Zhejiang's foreign trade industry, which is facing difficulties, may also be one of the unique windows for showing China's economic resilience. (Finish)