The recovery of foreign trade in various places is accelerating, and the foreign trade of the central and western regions is active.
Good start of foreign trade, more regional coordination
In the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan", China's foreign trade made a "good start."
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs recently, from January to April, the total value of imports and exports across the country was 11.62 trillion yuan, an increase of 28.5% year-on-year, and an increase of 21.8% year-on-year; the total value of imports and exports denominated in US dollars was 1.79 trillion yuan. U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%, and a year-on-year increase of 27.4%.
After a year-on-year growth of 29.2% in the first quarter, foreign trade continued to stabilize and improve.
It is worth mentioning that new bright spots in the foreign trade report cards of various regions and provinces are constantly emerging, and the foreign trade performance of the central and western regions is particularly active.
There are many bright spots in the recovery of foreign trade
"Food, luggage, clothing, souvenirs... During this short holiday, the whole family went to Hainan to'buy, buy, and buy', and the enthusiasm for shopping even surpassed that of traveling." After reminiscing about the "May 1st" trip in Hainan, he has returned to the unit. Wang Ping, a citizen of Beijing at work, is still unfinished.
According to statistics, during the May 1st holiday, the duty-free shopping market in Hainan’s outlying islands continued to be hot. Haikou Customs supervised a total of 993 million yuan in duty-free shopping on outlying islands, with 121,000 shoppers and 1.345 million items, an increase of 248%, 141% and respectively. 229%.
The boom in shopping on Hainan's outlying islands is a microcosm of the continued improvement of foreign trade.
From January to April, national exports were 6.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.8%, and an increase of 24.8% over the same period in 2019; imports were 5.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%, and an increase of 18.4% over the same period in 2019.
Traditional foreign trade powerhouses continue to play the "leading role".
In the first quarter, exports from the eastern region amounted to US$568.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%. Shandong and Hebei, which increased significantly, increased by 56.2% and 52.7% respectively; in the same period, imports from the eastern region amounted to US$490.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.7%.
Benefiting from the rebound in international demand and the strong supply capacity of the foreign trade industry, Guangdong’s imports and exports have grown strongly, with a total value of 1.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%, and accounting for 21.6% of the total import and export value of Mainland China in the same period.
In the first quarter, Shanghai achieved a total value of RMB 876.7 billion in imports and exports, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%.
Among them, exports of electromechanical products amounted to 231.54 billion yuan, an increase of 13.6%, accounting for 69.3% of Shanghai’s total export value during the same period. Among them, the export of integrated circuits was 36.38 billion yuan, an increase of 6.5%, and the export of notebook computers and automobiles doubled.
In the context of the continuous increase in the number of China-Europe express trains and the continuous deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN and countries along the “Belt and Road”, foreign trade in the central and western regions has become increasingly active.
On April 28, at Qinzhou Port in Guangxi, a container train full of rice and ore honked its whistle and departed to Chongqing. The opening of the new train marked the breakthrough of the 10,000 trains in the new western land-sea corridor.
The “Chongqing, Guangxi and New” normal operation trains connecting Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore have unblocked the new western land-sea channel for economic and trade exchanges between China’s central and western regions and ASEAN countries.
In the past three years, the new western land-sea route has gradually realized the "last mile" zero-distance connection of sea-rail combined transport, and the number of operations has increased by 25 times. More and more countries and regions have joined the "friend circle" of the new western land-sea route.
Statistics show that in the first quarter, the import and export of foreign trade in the central and western regions was 1.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 45.1%. The growth rate was 15.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade. The proportion of imports and exports in the country increased by 2 percentage points compared with the same period last year, reaching 17.8%.
Among the central provinces, Hubei quickly recovered. The province's total import and export volume in the first quarter reached 117.46 billion yuan, an increase of 88.1% year-on-year.
In the western region, Tibet’s foreign trade increased by 90.5% year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth rate among 31 provinces.
In terms of foreign capital utilization, the actual use of foreign capital in the eastern, central and western regions increased by 38.2%, 36.8% and 90.9% respectively in the first quarter.
"The foreign trade in the central and western regions has been active and the ability to undertake industrial transfers has increased. This fully reflects the further optimization of my country's domestic regional layout of foreign trade." said Li Kuiwen, director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs.
Climbing to the high end of the global value chain
The quantity is expanding, and the quality is improving.
The major eastern provinces of foreign trade are accelerating their climb to a higher position in the global value chain.
From the perspective of foreign trade data, while maintaining a relatively rapid growth rate, the characteristics of the decline in the proportion of processing trade, the increase in exports of high value-added products, and the increased vitality of private enterprises in the foreign trade structure are more prominent.
In the first quarter, the year-on-year growth rate of foreign trade in Zhejiang and Guangdong outperformed the national growth rate.
Many foreign trade companies continue to expand production capacity and work overtime to catch orders.
"The workshop is running at full capacity, and the delivery time for orders has been scheduled for 3 months." Saijia Electrical Appliances, located in Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is a national high-tech company that mainly develops and produces personal care products such as electric toothbrushes and toothbrush sterilizer accessories. Technology companies.
According to Wang Fang, the manager of the company's foreign trade department, in addition to major markets such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, the company is also continuing to explore the Southeast Asian market, and is beginning to invest in Thailand to build an overseas production base. The company's electric toothbrushes have also been stationed in the local e-commerce platform.
With excellent product quality and continuously increasing added value, bargaining space for foreign trade companies has been further enhanced.
Zhongce Yite Electronics Co., Ltd., located in Haishu District, Ningbo City, has 9 foreign trade production lines at full capacity to produce electronic transformers, power supply devices and other products.
"In recent years, we have cooperated with scientific research institutions to continuously strengthen product research and development and technological innovation, and product functions have become more and more perfect." General Manager Xu Zhirui introduced that the company's products are selling well in North America and Europe. The customer order price was slightly increased to ensure profit.
"Thanks to strict quality management, the products have won the trust of overseas customers, and everyone is willing to accept reasonable price increases." Xu Zhirui said.
At the same time, foreign trade in the central and western regions continued to emerge with new growth points, and the international market was further expanded.
In Henan, where the total value of foreign trade import and export has been the largest in the central provinces for many years, foreign trade in the first quarter is still dazzling: the comprehensive free trade zone has a faster growth rate of foreign trade, the proportion of imports and exports by air transportation has increased, and imports and exports with major trading partners have maintained rapid growth. The import and export of the mobile phone industry chain has grown rapidly.
The relevant person in charge of Zhengzhou Customs analyzed that the increase in domestic and foreign market demand and the strong demand for 5G mobile phones were the main reasons for Henan's foreign trade to hand over the beautiful report card in the first quarter.
In Tibet, imported civil aircrafts enriched domestic routes and boosted foreign trade.
At the same time, local state-owned enterprises performed well, with import and export value of 643 million yuan, an increase of 4.9 times.
The import and export value of the Lhasa Economic and Technological Development Zone was 849 million yuan, an increase of 3.8 times, becoming a new engine for regional economic growth.
The construction of major projects also promoted a "good start" in foreign trade.
In Guangxi, the construction of the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port and other projects is advancing rapidly, the volume and quality of China-Europe freight trains have both increased, and the third special railway line of Fangcheng Port has been completed and opened to traffic.
In the first quarter, a total of 1,325 trains of sea-rail combined transportation in the new western land-sea channel were operated, an increase of 89% year-on-year; the Beibu Gulf Port completed a container throughput of 1,263,900 TEUs, an increase of 36.81% year-on-year.
At present, the Beibu Gulf Port has opened 53 container shipping lines, realizing navigation with more than 200 ports in more than 100 countries and regions.
Solid foundation for stabilizing foreign trade throughout the year
Foreign trade is off to a good start. How to stabilize foreign trade in the next step?
The eastern region is making great efforts to consolidate existing advantages and promote the high-quality development of foreign trade.
Zhejiang proposed to accelerate the optimization and upgrading of foreign trade, build a haven for global investment, and enhance Zhejiang's position in the global value chain.
On June 8, the second China-CEEC Expo and International Consumer Goods Expo will open in Ningbo. A batch of high-tech products and projects from related countries will be unveiled at the conference.
"In the next five years, Zhejiang will strive to import 20 billion U.S. dollars of goods from Central and Eastern European countries, achieve two-way investment of more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, and strive to achieve an average annual growth of more than 30% in cross-border e-commerce trade with Central and Eastern European countries, and promote Zhejiang to become a China-Central and Eastern European country. The central hub of cooperation and an important bridge for Central and Eastern European countries to enter China, the world market." said Zhu Congjiu, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province.
The Central Region has made it clear that it will seize the opportunities for high-quality development in the Central Region and make more achievements in the field of opening up to the outside world.
On May 21, the 12th Central China Investment and Trade Expo will be held in Taiyuan, Shanxi.
Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen pointed out that the central region has the advantages of factor cost, location and market, open policy and platform in opening up. “The east can be exported through coastal areas, and the west can be exported to Central Asia and Eastern Europe through the China-Europe train. , Has a very good import and export geographical advantage."
The construction of Hainan Free Trade Port also ushered in new positives.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments issued the "Notice on Several Measures to Promote Trade Liberalization and Facilitation of Hainan Free Trade Port", and issued 28 measures covering trade in goods and services, making Hainan Free Trade Port a high-quality construction "fast lane" .
Tang Wenhong, Director-General of the Free Trade Zone Port Department of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that the "Notice" proposes targeted relaxation of restrictions for the areas where the "first-line" liberalization and the "second-line" control are implemented in the design of the Hainan Free Trade Port's trade freedom and facilitation policy system. , Relevant policies and measures will explore the path and accumulate experience for future island-wide customs closure operations.
The coordinated development of regions has become an important force for stabilizing and improving the quality of foreign trade.
In some major foreign trade provinces, the proportion of imports and exports of processing trade in the total value of foreign trade continued to decline in the first quarter.
It is understood that due to the epidemic and other factors, the foreign trade model of raw materials and products "two ends" has been impacted.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Application and Confirmation of National Processing Trade Industrial Parks", deciding to cultivate and build a batch of national processing trade industrial parks, guide the gradient transfer of processing trade, and establish a long-term docking mechanism of East, China and West industrial cooperation and mutual benefit. Support the Midwest and Northeast regions to participate in the international cycle.
Relevant experts pointed out that processing trade is an area favored by foreign-funded enterprises.
The state's policy to guide the transfer of processing trade to the central and western regions and northeast regions is conducive to coordinated regional development and also helps to stabilize the basic market for foreign trade and foreign investment.
"From the perspective of the whole year, China has the foundation and conditions to continue to do a good job in stabilizing foreign trade. China's imports and exports will maintain a stable and positive trend throughout the year." The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs said.
China's foreign trade continues
Steady and positive
●From January to April, the total import and export value of the country was 11.62 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.5% and an increase of 21.8% over the same period in 2019; the total value of imports and exports denominated in US dollars was US$1.79 trillion, an increase of 38.2% year-on-year. An increase of 27.4% in the same period in 2019.
More regional coordination
east
In the first quarter, exports from the eastern region were US$568.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%, and a decrease of 13.2% in the same period last year; imports from the eastern region were US$490.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.7%, and a year-on-year decrease of 4.9%.
among them:
Guangdong's total import and export value was 1.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%, accounting for 21.6% of the total import and export value of Mainland China in the same period.
Shanghai’s total import and export volume was 876.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%, and exports of notebook computers and automobiles doubled.
Midwest
In the first quarter, the foreign trade import and export of the central and western regions was 1.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 45.1%. The growth rate was 15.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade. The proportion of the country's import and export increased by 2 percentage points compared with the same period last year, reaching 17.8%.
among them:
The total value of import and export of Henan's foreign trade ranks first in the central region. Imports and exports with major trading partners have maintained rapid growth, and imports and exports around the mobile phone industry chain have grown rapidly.
Hubei's foreign trade quickly recovered, with a total import and export value of 117.46 billion yuan, an increase of 88.1% year-on-year.
The import and export volume of Tibet's foreign trade increased by 90.5% year-on-year, ranking first among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in the country.
Reporter: Wang Wenzheng