(Economic Observation) How is China's foreign trade situation in the second half of the year?

　　China News Service, Beijing, July 12th, title: How is China's foreign trade situation in the second half of the year?

　　China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin

　　Since the beginning of this year, the scale of China's imports and exports has hit a record high over the same period in history.

Looking ahead to China’s foreign trade situation throughout the year, an official from the Ministry of Commerce of China said on the 12th that recent surveys showed signs of improvement in external demand, and we are confident of achieving the goal of stabilizing volume and improving quality throughout the year.

Import and export scale hit a new high

　　The Assistant Minister of Commerce Ren Hongbin stated at the State Council’s regular policy briefing on the 12th that since this year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with localities and departments, has vigorously promoted the implementation of foreign trade policies, promoted the innovative development of foreign trade, and achieved rapid growth in foreign trade. Five major features:

　　First, the scale of China's import and export hit a record high over the same period in history.

From January to May, in RMB terms, imports and exports, exports, and imports increased by 28.2%, 30.1%, and 25.9% year-on-year, respectively, which were the highest levels in the same period in ten years, and increased by 21.6%, 23.6%, and 19.2% respectively over the same period in 2019. .

　　The second is the continuous optimization of the structure.

The proportion of exports of central and western regions, private enterprises, mechanical and electrical products and general trade increased by 1.4, 3.7, 0.8 and 2.1 percentage points respectively.

　　The third is to make solid progress in innovation and development.

New forms and models of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce are booming. The Ministry of Commerce has newly identified 105 national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, and the total number has reached 578.

The foreign trade transformation and upgrading base is also an important platform for the integration of trade and industry promoted by the Ministry of Commerce and related departments.

　　The fourth is to support the stable recovery of the national economy.

The contribution rate of trade in goods to economic growth exceeds 20%.

　　The fifth is to promote the recovery of the world economy and trade.

　　"According to WTO statistics, in the first quarter, China's import international market share was 11.8%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points year-on-year. This was also the highest level of China's import share in the same period. Domestic domestic demand played a stronger role in stimulating global trade," said Ren Hongbin .

Four factors are driving the rapid growth of foreign trade

　　"The new success in foreign trade is mainly due to China's overall planning of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development to achieve major strategic results. The country's series of stable foreign trade policies have continued to exert effective results. This is the joint efforts of various localities, departments and foreign trade enterprises. "Results", Ren Hongbin said, compared with the past, there are four phased factors which are very important reasons for the growth of foreign trade this year.

　　First, the "home economy" products and the return of orders have increased the export growth rate by about 18%.

China has taken the lead in controlling the epidemic, and its industrial and supply chains have been stable and smooth, filling the gap in supply and demand for essential goods in other countries.

The first recovery of Chinese industries has provided sufficient and various necessities for the international supply and demand gap.

　　Second, rising prices of bulk commodities have pushed up the growth rate of imports by more than 6 percentage points.

Among them, only the increase in the prices of six bulk commodities including iron ore, copper, steel, and crude oil pushed up the overall import growth rate by 5.7 percentage points.

　　The third is that "New Year's on the spot" increased the growth rate of imports and exports by about 4%.

　　Fourth, last year's low base factor contributed to a 6.6% increase in import and export growth.

Looking forward to the whole year: It is expected to achieve the goal of stable quantity and quality improvement

　　Ren Hongbin said that looking forward to the trend of foreign trade throughout the year, foreign trade development faces opportunities and challenges, but the opportunities outweigh the challenges.

At present, the recovery of world economy and trade is accelerating.

A recent questionnaire survey by the Ministry of Commerce shows that about 40% of foreign trade companies’ newly signed export orders have increased year-on-year, external demand has shown signs of improvement, and corporate competitiveness has increased.

We are confident that we will achieve the goal of steady growth in volume and quality throughout the year.

　　At the same time, we must also realize that the development situation of China's foreign trade is still complicated.

From an international perspective, the global epidemic situation is still severe, economic recovery is uncertain, industrial chain supply chain risks have increased, and trade issues have become more politicized.

　　From a domestic perspective, China’s foreign trade companies face four major difficulties: low efficiency in international shipping and high prices; increased fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate, causing companies to "do not accept orders and export profits"; rising prices of raw materials increase companies Cost; recruitment is difficult and expensive in some areas.

　　Ren Hongbin said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will closely follow the changes in the domestic and international situation and address the outstanding difficulties faced by foreign trade enterprises.

The first is to strengthen international economic and trade cooperation, participate constructively in global economic governance, promote multi- and bilateral regional rule negotiations, and build a high-standard free trade zone network; the second is to promote the “Belt and Road” construction with high quality and promote market diversification; the third is to accelerate development New forms and models of foreign trade will foster new momentum for foreign trade; the fourth is to develop high-quality and innovative foreign trade industrial clusters to promote trade and industrial integration.

(Finish)