China News Service, July 17, according to news from the website of the Ministry of Commerce, the head of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce said that when talking about my country's foreign trade operations in the first half of 2020, general trade showed strong resilience. The domestic industry continues to transform and upgrade, and foreign trade companies accelerate brand building. General trade exports fell by 2%, which was better than the overall 1 percentage point.
Data map: Import and export containers. China News Service reporter Lu Mingshe
The person in charge pointed out that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce and various departments have promptly issued a series of foreign trade stabilization policies and measures and implemented them. In improving export tax rebates, increasing foreign trade credit placement, increasing export credit insurance support, and adding cross-border e-commerce comprehensive The pilot zone and other aspects support the development of foreign trade, effectively solve the difficulties for enterprises, and fully stimulate the vitality of market players. The vast number of foreign trade enterprises are facing difficulties and innovating and developing. Through joint efforts, foreign trade has stabilized. Exports have been growing for three consecutive months since April, and imports have achieved positive growth in June. In the first half of the year, China’s total imports and exports totaled 14.24 trillion yuan, a decrease of 3.2%. Among them, exports were 7.71 trillion yuan, down 3%, and imports were 6.53 trillion yuan, down 3.3%. The foreign trade operation in the first half of the year mainly showed the following characteristics:
First, the layout of the international market has been optimized. Imports and exports to emerging markets fell by 2.4%, which was better than the overall 0.8 percentage points. Imports and exports to ASEAN increased by 5.6%, becoming China's largest trading partner.
Second, the domestic regional layout is more balanced. Exports in the central and western regions increased by 1.6%, a growth rate better than the overall 4.6 percentage points. Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and other provinces have actively undertaken industrial transfers and developed overseas markets in depth, with double-digit growth in exports.
Third, the vitality of private enterprises continues to increase. Private enterprises actively took advantage of flexibility and adaptability, accelerated transformation and upgrading, and exports increased by 3.2%, better than the overall 6.2 percentage points. The exports of state-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises decreased by 9.8% and 9.1% respectively.
Fourth, the export commodity structure continued to upgrade. The export of mechanical and electrical products decreased by 2.3%, which was better than the overall 0.7 percentage points. Among them, high-quality, high-tech, high-value-added products such as integrated circuits, medical devices, notebook computers, and instruments and meters have achieved rapid growth, and the export growth rate of new energy vehicles has more than doubled.
Fifth, general trade shows strong toughness. China's domestic industries continue to transform and upgrade, and foreign trade companies accelerate brand building. General trade exports fell by 2%, which was better than the overall 1 percentage point.
Sixth, new formats such as cross-border e-commerce are developing rapidly. Cross-border e-commerce companies take advantage of the unique advantages of non-contact, short transaction chains, overseas warehouses, etc. to support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and reach online. Cross-border e-commerce retail exports increased by 28.7%. The market procurement trade policy environment continued to improve, the vitality of market players continued to inspire, and exports increased by 33.4%.
Seventh, the import volume of major commodities increased and prices fell. The epidemic prevention and control situation in our country continues to improve, the economic operation is steadily recovering, and industrial production is recovering faster, driving the increase in import demand for bulk products. Imports of coal, crude oil, natural gas, copper ore, etc. increased by 12.7%, 9.9%, 3.3%, and 3% respectively. Affected by the weak demand in the international market, the prices of commodities generally fell, and the import prices of the above products fell by 6.3%, 27.8%, 15.6%, and 3.5%, respectively.
At present, the epidemic is still prevalent globally, some countries and regions have rebounded, newly diagnosed cases have reached new highs, the world economy has been severely recessed, international demand has shrunk sharply, trade barriers have increased significantly, and the situation facing my country's foreign trade development is still grim and complex. Judging from the recent surveys, the difficulties faced by foreign trade companies such as insufficient orders, poor logistics, and instability in the supply chain of the industrial chain are still very prominent.
The person in charge said that in the next step, in accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, we will work together to "six stability" and "six guarantees", continue to pay close attention to the implementation of various policies, accelerate the introduction of a new round of foreign trade stabilization policy measures, and foster trade The new business model and new model support the transfer of exported products to domestic sales, increase the level of trade facilitation, actively expand imports, run the third China International Import Expo, and go all out to promote the stability and quality of foreign trade.