This year’s “Government Work Report” clearly stated that “promoting a stable scale and optimized structure of foreign trade” and introduced a series of measures such as “increasing credit and credit guarantee support”, “strengthening the construction of the international delivery logistics system”, and “encouraging and supporting service exports”.
So, what is the current situation of China’s foreign trade?
How will various regions and departments implement the deployment requirements of the government work report?
At the beginning of this year, China’s foreign trade has delivered a brilliant answer.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first two months, the total import and export value of goods trade reached 7.73 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%.
Among them, exports were 4.62 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.2%; imports were 3.11 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.1%.
Judging from monthly trends, imports and exports increased by 13.6% year-on-year in January, and the growth rate in February increased by 10.9 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 24.5%. The growth rate of imports and exports of goods trade in the first two months returned to double digits for the first time since January 2024.
In terms of product exports, the export of high-tech and high value-added electromechanical products in the first two months was 2.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.3%; the export of labor-intensive products and agricultural products also increased by 15.6% and 9.7% respectively.
From the perspective of operating entities, the import and export of private enterprises in the first two months was 4.51 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%, continuing to maintain the status of my country’s largest foreign trade operating entity. During the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises and state-owned enterprises increased by 15.3% and 7.4% respectively.
In terms of diversified development, in the first two months, while China’s imports and exports to the United States fell by 16.9% year-on-year, China’s imports and exports to Africa and the United States showed strong momentum, and imports and exports to the EU, ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America increased by 19.9%, 20.3%, 34.2%, and 19.7% respectively.
Yan Min, director of the Macroeconomic Research Office of the Economic Forecast Department of the State Information Center, said that the good start of foreign trade this year is the result of the combination of factors such as the rebound in global demand, the release of policy dividends, the highlighting of industrial advantages, and the burst of vitality of micro entities.
Since the beginning of this year, the policy of stabilizing foreign trade has continued to work hard, and institutional opening-up has been advanced in depth, providing a solid guarantee for foreign trade.
The two-wheel drive of emerging industries leading the way and traditional industries stabilizing, mid- and high-end manufacturing exports maintaining high growth, and product competitiveness continuing to consolidate, have laid a solid foundation for my country’s annual foreign trade to “stabilize scale and optimize the structure.”
However, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao pointed out that although my country’s foreign trade generally continued the characteristics and trend of last year in the first two months of this year, the external environment faced by foreign trade development is still complex and severe, and the pressure to stabilize foreign trade is still considerable.
This year, we will focus on the “three pillars” of building a trade power, namely trade in goods, trade in services, and digital trade, and strengthen four “coordination” efforts to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade.
The first is to coordinate the promotion of stability and quality improvement, optimize policy support and guidance, study and introduce incremental policy measures, focus on new fields and new business formats, and accelerate the development of digital trade and green trade; the second is to coordinate emerging and traditional trade, consolidate and expand diversified markets, strengthen country guidance, and promote the integrated development of trade and investment; the third is to coordinate imports and exports and promote trade equality.
We should develop in a balanced way, give full play to the advantages of the ultra-large market, and expand the import of related products; fourth, we should coordinate producer services and daily services, vigorously develop service trade, and accompany “Made in China” and “Chinese Investment” overseas to drive the export of related services, tap the potential of service exports, promote the import of high-quality daily services, and cultivate more new growth points for foreign trade.
Based on the good start, various regions and departments are taking the initiative to coordinate efforts to promote a stable and optimal structure of foreign trade.
For example, in order to ensure the smooth shipment and export of domestic new energy vehicles, Shanghai Yangshan Customs opened a “green channel” for customs clearance at the Nangang Terminal. With the help of visual supervision technology, it embedded “insensitive” supervision into the logistics chain, effectively improving the efficiency of vehicle export circulation; Ningxia Yinchuan Customs promoted the “one-way” system for rail-sea combined transportation
“The “one-box system” shortens the customs clearance time from Zhongwei to Ningbo Beilun Port by about 10 days, and reduces the transportation cost of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor by about 20%; Shandong actively carries out research on stabilizing foreign trade, collects enterprise demands and suggestions, combines its own industrial characteristics and development priorities, strives for preferential policies, and formulates targeted support measures.
In addition, more policies and measures are being introduced and implemented at an accelerated pace. The General Administration of Customs has launched a policy “package” to promote trade facilitation and the development of new business formats. The Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a document to reduce the export return costs of cross-border e-commerce enterprises.
Analysts generally believe that as this year’s government work report accelerates the implementation of policy arrangements around foreign trade, and various regions and departments work together to strengthen implementation, China’s foreign trade will have the confidence to move forward and maintain stability and improvement.
