The central region has successively announced the foreign trade transcripts in the first half of this year. Among them, the "middle triangle" formed by the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi (hereinafter referred to as the "three middle provinces") has a total foreign trade import and export value of 935.52 billion yuan in the first half of the year, both achieving double-digit growth. , the growth rate continues to lead the country.
The first financial reporter learned from the customs departments of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi that the total import and export value of Hunan in the first half of the year was 325.54 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.2%; Jiangxi was 319.07 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40.0%, 30.6 percentage points higher than the national average; Hubei 2909.1 100 million yuan, the best level in history for the same period, with a year-on-year increase of 18.4%.
Chen Bo, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and dean of the Optics Valley Free Trade Zone Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that the foreign trade data of the third and third provinces is dazzling. The supply chain is relatively stable.
However, the impact of various quantitative easing programs in Western countries on the demand side has not been reflected for the time being, and the overseas markets still have relatively strong demand for electronic products and mechanical products in the three provinces.
ASEAN becomes the main force of foreign trade growth in the three provinces
In the first half of this year, Southeast Asian countries accelerated the resumption of work and production, which directly led to a significant increase in the import and export of the three provinces to ASEAN.
According to Changsha Customs statistics, from January to June this year, Hunan's import and export to ASEAN reached 69.27 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.7%, accounting for 21.3% of the total import and export value. ASEAN's contribution to Hunan's import and export growth rate reached 43.7%.
According to statistics from Wuhan Customs, ASEAN has the fastest import and export growth rate among Hubei's top three trading partners, reaching 28.4%, 10 percentage points higher than the overall import and export growth rate.
In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade value between Hubei and ASEAN reached 43.11 billion yuan, and ASEAN became Hubei's largest trading partner.
Li Zhenhan, deputy director of Wuhan Customs Statistical Analysis Division, said that in the first half of the year, Hubei's exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products to ASEAN increased by 23.8% and 83% year-on-year respectively, accounting for 55.3% of the total export value to ASEAN in the same period.
In the first half of the year, Hubei's imports of integrated circuits from ASEAN accounted for 27% of the total import value from ASEAN in the same period; imports of agricultural products and coal from ASEAN increased by 21.5% and 2.5 times year-on-year respectively, accounting for 5.3% and 2.4% of the province's total imports from ASEAN in the same period. %.
The proportion of private enterprises in the main import and export of the three provinces continued to increase.
The import and export of private enterprises in Jiangxi increased by 43.6%, accounting for 75.0% of the total import and export value of the province, a year-on-year increase of 1.9 percentage points.
The import and export of private enterprises in Hunan accounted for more than 80% of the total import and export value of the province, and the contribution rate to the growth of Hunan's import and export reached 109.9%.
At the same time, Changsha Customs strengthened policy support and made good use of the preferential tax reduction and exemption policies. In the first half of the year, it reduced and taxed more than 80 million yuan for related enterprises in Hunan.
The import and export of private enterprises in Hubei was 179.43 billion yuan, an increase of 27.7%, accounting for 61.7% of the total import and export value of the province during the same period, and an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
Wuhan Customs has reduced and taxed more than 700 million yuan for Hubei foreign trade enterprises, refunded 74 million yuan in taxes, reduced costs by 55.3 million yuan, and reduced taxes and fees by 295 million yuan, effectively stimulating the vitality of market players and providing important support for the steady growth of foreign trade.
In the first half of this year, the export of high-tech products in the three provinces has achieved outstanding results.
Taking the optical communication industry in Hubei Province as an example, from January to June, Hubei's export of laser equipment increased by 59.9% year-on-year, with a value of 320 million yuan, an increase of 25%, and the export volume ranked sixth in the country and first in the central region.
Li Zhenhan analyzed that Hubei's exports have grown rapidly. On the one hand, it is due to the wide application of laser equipment such as laser cutting, laser welding, and laser marking, including automobiles, communications, medical care, military, 3C, machinery, scientific research, etc., and laser equipment is still in use. The continuous penetration into the segments of emerging application industries, especially the new energy vehicle and power battery industries that are currently vigorously developing, has increased the demand for laser equipment in various countries.
On the other hand, Hubei's own brands are gradually being recognized by the global market, especially the European market.
In the first half of this year, Hubei's laser equipment exports to Europe increased by 4.75 times year-on-year, accounting for 58.2% of the province's total laser equipment exports during the same period, and 42 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
Import and export enterprises enjoy benefits in RCEP
On January 1 this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect.
As the world's largest institutional open platform, RCEP accounts for about 30% of the world's population, economic volume and trade volume, and contains huge market potential. According to the agreement, more than 90% of the trade in goods in the region will eventually achieve zero tariffs.
Six months after RCEP came into effect, the import and export goods under RCEP in Wuhan Customs District, Changsha Customs District and Nanchang Customs District have been cleared smoothly, helping foreign trade enterprises in the three provinces to enjoy a total of 1.458 billion yuan in value of goods. RCEP has brought important import and export industries in the three provinces New opportunities come.
"For enterprises, the biggest and most direct benefit after RCEP takes effect is the increase in export opportunities and the reduction in import costs brought about by the reduction in tariffs. Therefore, the enthusiasm of enterprises to apply for the RCEP certificate of origin has gradually increased." Nanchang Customs Tariff Office Chang Chen Jianping said that from January to June, Nanchang Customs issued a total of 1,423 RCEP certificates of origin, with a visa amount of US$540 million.
Among them, 355 new visas were issued in June alone, with a visa amount of 230 million US dollars, a month-on-month increase of 45.2%, and a reduction of 77.5 million yuan in foreign tariffs.
With the continuous expansion of RCEP's "circle of friends" and the continuous interconnection of regional economic exchanges, the promotion effect on the foreign trade of the three provinces is also rapidly emerging.
Japan is the largest visa destination country and import benefit source country under the RCEP policy of Hunan Province.
Changsha Customs data shows that from the perspective of exports, Changsha Customs has issued a total of 710 RCEP certificates of origin with a value of 450 million yuan; approved exporters in Hunan Province independently issued 12 origin declarations with a value of 5.774 million yuan, exporting preferential products Mainly for shoes, metals, chemical products, fireworks, lamps and so on.
From the perspective of imports, the customs accepted 24 import declarations under RCEP, with a value of 17 million yuan. The imported products are mainly rubber, resin, engine and auto parts.
Traditional labor-intensive industries such as textiles and clothing in Hubei have also ushered in new development opportunities with the help of RCEP.
For the blended women's skirts exported to Japan by Merya, a leading clothing exporter in Hubei, the tax rate has been reduced from 10% to the current 8.2%.
According to the estimated export value of last year, it is expected to receive 2.29 million yuan in tariff reduction this year.
In April this year, Meierya obtained the qualification of an approved exporter by the customs. In the future, it can independently issue a declaration of origin, making customs clearance more convenient and efficient.
It is reported that Wuhan Customs carried out "one-to-one" RCEP policy presentations to 49 key enterprises. In the first half of the year, a total of 1,919 RCEP export origin visas were issued, with a value of 616 million yuan.
Chen Bo said that the current impact of RCEP on the foreign trade of the three provinces is still in the initial stage of subtle influence. With the deepening of the import and export trade exchanges between the three provinces and Japan and South Korea, the benefits of RCEP will become more prominent.
Especially in the long run, RCEP will bring huge opportunities for the central region to increase the proportion of international division of labor and its status in the international industrial chain; in the process of improving the open energy level, it can also force the leading industries in the central region to move to the high end of the global value chain rising.
Author: Zhou Fang