Based on Advantages and Stabilizing the Basic Market of Foreign Trade

Based on Advantages and Stabilizing the Basic Market of Foreign Trade

      In the first two months, China's total import and export of goods amounted to 6.18 trillion yuan, basically unchanged from the same period last year. The smooth opening of foreign trade not only demonstrates strong resilience, but also lays a good foundation for the development of foreign trade throughout the year.

      Since this year, the risk of global economic recession has increased, and the uncertainty of the external environment has increased. The World Trade Organization predicts that global trade in goods will only grow by 1% this year, slowing by about 2.5 percentage points compared to last year. At the same time, many enterprises report weakening external demand, reduced orders, delayed order placement, large orders becoming smaller, and long orders becoming shorter. Various factors indicate that there is little possibility of a significant increase in the "cake" of global foreign trade, which requires us to base ourselves on our own advantages and make every effort to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade.

     China has many favorable factors to stabilize the basic situation of foreign trade. On the one hand, the scale of foreign trade remained stable. In the first two months, China's foreign trade has overcome the challenge of weak external demand, and the total import and export volume of goods has remained above 6 trillion yuan, the second highest value in history over the same period. On the other hand, the foreign trade structure has been continuously optimized. The proportion of private enterprises has further increased, and trade with emerging markets has become closer. Some high-tech and high value-added products have also seen a good growth momentum.

     To stabilize the basic situation of foreign trade, it is necessary to stabilize expectations through stable policies. Last year, in the face of the impact of the epidemic and uncertain external demand, China issued two consecutive rounds of policies, which played an important role in stabilizing foreign trade. While stabilizing traditional markets such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea, we should also continue to explore emerging markets, such as Latin America and countries along the "the Belt and Road". In addition, it is necessary to stabilize trade channels. Actively take advantage of traditional channels such as the Canton Fair to resume offline exhibitions, encourage enterprises to participate overseas, and encourage local, trade promotion agencies, and business associations to carry out various forms of trade promotion activities.

    To stabilize the basic situation of foreign trade, it is also necessary to achieve high-quality development through optimizing the structure. In terms of optimizing trade methods, while strengthening general trade, support the gradient transfer of processing trade to achieve upgrading and development; Coordinate and promote the rapid and healthy development of new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, bonded maintenance, etc. In terms of optimizing the layout of foreign trade supply chains, we will implement a coordinated regional development strategy, improve the quality of trade in the eastern region, and increase the proportion of trade between the central and western regions and the northeast region. In terms of optimizing the product mix, we will continuously cultivate new drivers of trade. As China's industry speeds up its pace towards mid to high end, new trade growth points will continue to emerge. Since last year, China's high-tech, value-added, and green transformation leading products have become new growth points for exports, especially the "new three types" of exports represented by electric vehicles, photovoltaic products, and lithium batteries. In addition, digital empowerment can also increase trade momentum by improving the level of trade digitization.

    Currently, the growth of foreign demand has slowed significantly, the international supply chain pattern is also accelerating the restructuring, and the foreign trade development environment is relatively severe. Next, it is necessary to make greater efforts to promote high-level opening-up, continuously improve the comprehensive competitiveness of foreign trade, promote the stability of foreign trade in terms of scale and structure, and stabilize the supporting role of exports in the national economy. (Source of this article: Economic Daily Author: Jin Guanping)