Ningbo's Foreign Trade Transformation: Policy Updating Is Complicated

The obstacles to the transformation of foreign trade not only come from enterprises, but also involve complicated policy updates.

"In 2014, Ningbo's foreign trade volume grew against the trend and exceeded 100 billion US dollars again." Ningbo foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau Yu Danhua told the "financial and Economic Weekly" reporter. In 2013, Ningbo's foreign trade exceeded US $100 billion for the first time.

But the data continued downward trend at the end of the year. According to the statistics of Ningbo customs, the total value of foreign trade and import and export in Ningbo from 2014 to November was about 94 billion 540 million US dollars, up 4.2% from the same period last year, while the total value of foreign trade increased by only 3.3% over the whole year 1. Even if it ranks among the "100 billion dollar club", it will not cover up Ningbo. foreign trade The situation is grim, and it is urgent to transform and upgrade.

As one of the "three carriages", foreign trade has great impact on China's economic growth and regional development, and it also brings volatility. For example, before and after the financial crisis, the contribution rate of net exports to GDP remained at about 20% for a long time, then dropped to -4.4% in 2013, and slowly increased to 0.3% in 2014, and for the first time in 4 years.

The mode of foreign trade in Ningbo is single, with general trade as the main body and the export body as medium and small enterprises. After the financial crisis, the global trade structure has undergone major changes, and the demand for high and new technology application and technology added value of export enterprises has been increasing. This has a great impact on Ningbo's foreign trade. Under the new normal economic situation, the obstacles to China's foreign trade transformation are not only from enterprises, but also to the policy updating of all kinds of root causes. This is a systematic project.

"The cost of raw materials is rising, the cost of labor is increasing, plus the appreciation of the renminbi, the profit margins are getting smaller and smaller. Seeing that the total volume of trade is huge, in fact, it is becoming more and more unprofitable. A person in charge of foreign trade clothing processing enterprises in Ningbo for 20 years complained to the financial weekly.

"Sanjiang interchange, a lake in the center." Ningbo, built near the water, is one of the earliest open trading ports in China. Since it became a separate city in 1988, Ningbo has been making various preferential measures to promote foreign trade with the advantage of geographical location. Foreign trade has become a strong driving force for Ningbo's economic development.

according to Ningbo According to the data released by the municipal government, in 2013, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the city was 712 billion 890 million yuan, of which the total value of foreign trade and import and export amounted to US $103 billion 330 million, which was equivalent to RMB 619 billion 370 million yuan at the current exchange rate, accounting for 86.9% of its GDP.

Wu Zuopeng, Professor of Ningbo Academy of Social Sciences, said that Ningbo's economic dependence on foreign trade was far higher than the national average level and similar coastal open city level. The city's over 1/4 employment personnel were related to foreign trade export, and the small and medium sized enterprises of thousands of troops were the main body of Ningbo's foreign trade.

Foreign trade with volume won Ningbo Economic development Benefits, but also hidden dangers for future industrial upgrading.

Data show that as of October 2014, Ningbo's foreign trade was still dominated by general trade, accounting for 83.4%, processing trade accounted for 14.7%, and other trade accounted for 1.8%. In the products of Ningbo's foreign trade, the proportion of machinery and textiles and clothing is 42.9% and 19.2% respectively. The trade volume of high-tech products accounts for only 8%, and has a downward trend compared with the same period last year.

That is to say, Ningbo's foreign trade is still dependent on cheap and low value-added products, and its ability to resist risks in industrial structure is relatively low.

Reporters in Ningbo research, many processing small foreign trade enterprises have complained, in recent years, Global trade barriers increased, foreign trade environment deterioration, profit space has been compressed.

"We basically have no bargaining power in the presence of foreign businessmen, and the profits of enterprises are less than 5%. We started to reduce losses." The owner of a towel factory in Ningbo said.

"There has been no obvious improvement in the operation of foreign trade." Yu Danhua said. According to Ningbo's foreign trade and economic monitoring data, in 2013, 98 key foreign trade enterprises lost 30% of their losses.

Besides, the concentration of foreign trade in Ningbo is very high. In the first three quarters of 2014, Ningbo's foreign trade export market was still dominated by East Asia and Europe and the United States, accounting for 73.54%, while the total emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Oceania were relatively small.

"The concentration of foreign trade and the same form of industry will easily lead to trade conflicts among similar enterprises. When the regional economy fluctuates violently or the major events of international politics occur, Ningbo's foreign trade economy is vulnerable to unpredictable advance. Yang Lihua, a professor at Ningbo University business school, thinks that