This Monday Foreign Trade News is specially compiled to address the daily pain points of front-line foreign trade salesmen and small and medium-sized factory owners. It uses official and industry reliable sources, removes useless empty talk and sensitive illegal content, and focuses on cost control, ensuring delivery, avoiding compliance pitfalls, collecting policy benefits, and finding new order opportunities. The content is pragmatic and easy to understand, and you can grasp the key points and avoid risks at a glance.
1. Domestic new policy to stabilize foreign trade: reduce burdens in real terms, small and medium-sized factories will benefit directly
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The tax reduction policy for cross-border e-commerce return shipments has been extended, so you don’t have to worry about losing money if you try out small orders
The Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a notice that the tax discount for cross-border e-commerce export return shipments will be extended directly until the end of 2027.
For small and medium-sized factories and sellers engaged in cross-border e-commerce, this is undoubtedly a huge relief.
The policy clearly stipulates that export goods with a 1210 supervision code can be returned to the country within six months of leaving the country, and import duties, value-added tax, and consumption tax are fully exempted; if an export tax rebate has been processed, the tax can be paid according to regulations, and the process is simple.
Especially for factories that deal with light industry, daily necessities, and small department stores, orders are scattered and returns and exchanges are frequent. This policy can significantly reduce return shipping costs, revitalize working capital, and make it easier to accept small orders and trial orders.
2. Financial + customs clearance dual support, taking orders and collecting payments more worry-free
Following the steps of the National Two Sessions to stabilize foreign trade, support policies for small and medium-sized foreign trade companies have been implemented one after another, bringing tangible benefits.
On the one hand, increased support for credit and export credit guarantees has made it easier for small and micro enterprises to obtain credit guarantees, effectively reducing problems such as difficulty in financing for orders and unguaranteed repayments; on the other hand, RMB cross-border settlement has been continuously promoted, procedures have been simplified, and exchange fees have been reduced. At the same time, the negative list of cross-border trade in services has been further reduced, and market access has become more relaxed.
The entire process of small and medium-sized factories from receiving orders, collecting payments to foreign exchange settlement will be smoother, and they can enhance their ability to resist risks even if overseas markets fluctuate.
3. The central parity rate of the RMB exchange rate is fine-tuned, and quotations and exchange locks should be closely monitored.
On March 9, the Central Bank’s authorized foreign exchange trading center announced that the central parity rate of the US dollar against the RMB was reported at 6.9158, a depreciation of 133 basis points from the previous trading day.
For small and medium-sized foreign trade factories and salesmen, this exchange rate is a key reference for quotation, cost calculation, and foreign exchange settlement and lock-in.
When receiving orders in the near future, the quotation should not be too low and leave room for exchange rate fluctuations.
Enterprises with sufficient funds on hand can conduct forward exchange settlements as much as possible and rationally use exchange rate hedging tools to avoid exchange rate differences from eroding order profits and ensure receipts.
2. International economy, trade and logistics: Shipping fluctuations affect delivery, so be sure to respond in advance
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The situation in the Middle East is disrupting shipping. Space is tight, freight rates are rising, and shipping schedules are delayed. Lock the space early and communicate early
Recently, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have continued to be tense. The global shipping market has been severely affected, directly affecting the order delivery of small and medium-sized factories.
Many mainstream shipping companies have suspended new bookings at Middle East ports such as Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Ships on the Red Sea route have to take a long detour to the Cape of Good Hope. Shipping schedules on mainstream routes such as Europe, the Mediterranean, the United States, Canada, and Africa are generally delayed by 10 to 14 days. Space is tight, freight rates have risen sharply, and additional surcharges have been levied on some routes.
In addition, international oil prices are close to the 100 yuan mark, further pushing up logistics costs.
I would like to remind everyone to check the orders for delivery in a timely manner, lock in space and price as early as possible, proactively communicate with overseas customers to explain that the delivery date may be delayed, reasonably share the logistics costs, and ensure the smooth delivery of orders.
2. Countdown to China-Africa zero-tariff policy, emerging market order opportunities are coming
Officially, my country will implement zero tariffs on 100% of African tax items from May 2026. This provides an excellent opportunity for small and medium-sized factories in light industry, hardware, building materials, and daily necessities to explore emerging markets.
Zero tariffs cover all categories, bilateral trade costs have been significantly reduced, African customers’ procurement costs have dropped, and demand for subsequent orders is expected to continue to grow.
Companies can actively connect with African customers, adjust production capacity layout, avoid fierce competition in the European and American markets, tap incremental orders, and expand business scale.
3. The EU has notified unqualified products again. This kind of goods should be strictly inspected and do not step into compliance pits.
The EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) updated the notice. Polyamide kitchenware and tea exported from my country were named and warned by Germany and Spain due to excessive aromatic amines and excessive pesticide residues respectively.
Unqualified products not only face penalties such as return shipments, fines, and goods deductions, but may also affect the company’s subsequent export qualifications.
Therefore, export factories, especially those in kitchenware, textiles, food, daily chemicals and other high-frequency EU random inspection categories, must strictly control the quality of raw materials, strengthen finished product testing, retain complete quality inspection reports, ensure that products comply with EU safety and environmental protection standards, and avoid losses caused by substandard products.
3. New trends in cross-border e-commerce platforms: The threshold for direct supply from factories is low, and multi-channel shipments are more cost-effective
1. The new policies of mainstream platforms have been implemented, making it easier for small and medium-sized factories to directly supply and distribute goods
In March, new policies for major cross-border platforms came into effect intensively, which are very friendly to small and medium-sized factories and sellers.
Amazon launched an exclusive support plan for small and medium-sized sellers, providing warehousing and logistics subsidies; Latin America’s top platform Meikeduo officially opened semi-managed and full-managed models to Chinese companies, and factories can enter the Latin American market without complicated operations; Lazada in Southeast Asia launched an investment promotion, free of commissions and deposits for 90 days, reducing the cost of entry.
Small and medium-sized factories can rely on the advantages of self-production and self-sales, deploy multi-platform channels, directly connect with overseas buyers, expand profit margins, broaden shipping channels, and alleviate the problem of idle production capacity.
2. The U.S. customs duty refund system will be launched soon, which will alleviate the pressure on capital occupation
The U.S. Customs announced that the tariff refund system will be launched within 45 days, involving a refund amount of more than 160 billion US dollars.
After the system goes online, the tariff refund process related to Sino-U.S. trade will be greatly simplified and the repayment speed will be accelerated, effectively alleviating the capital occupation problem of small and medium-sized factories and export enterprises, allowing enterprises to have more funds for production and undertaking high-quality orders, and promoting smoother bilateral trade.
This week’s risk reminder (must be watched by foreign traders and factory owners)
The recent core risks mainly include four major aspects: shipping delays leading to order defaults, skyrocketing freight rates that erode profits, strict EU compliance inspections and penalties, and exchange rate fluctuations that eat up earnings.
It is recommended that everyone arrange production in advance, lock in shipping space, strictly control product quality, take exchange rate hedging measures, proactively communicate with customers about delivery dates, standardize order operations, guard the bottom line of profits, and avoid unnecessary losses.
