A Hard Nut To Crack In Foreign Trade

Customs statistics show that in October, China's import and export 2 trillion and 50 billion yuan, down 0.6% compared to the same period last year.

Among them, exports fell by 3.2%, imports increased by 3.2%, and achieved positive growth for 3 consecutive months.

1~10 month cumulative import and export 19 trillion and 560 billion yuan, down 1.9% compared with the same period last year, the decline was unchanged from the first three quarters, narrowing sharply compared with the same period last year.

Among them, exports of 11 trillion and 220 billion yuan, a decrease of 2%, a 0.4 percentage point increase over the first three quarters, unchanged from the same period last year; imports of 8 trillion and 340 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.8%, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the previous three quarter, narrowing by 13.4 percentage points over the same period last year.

2 trillion and 880 billion yuan, 2.6% reduction.

On the whole, in 1~10 months, China's import and export continued to stabilize, and the new kinetic energy of foreign trade continued to accumulate.

In 1~10 months, the proportion of general trade imports and exports reached 55.5%, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year, and the new formats such as cross-border electricity suppliers, market purchasing trade, and foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises continued to maintain a relatively fast growth, thus becoming an important force to drive China's foreign trade growth.

Private enterprises export 5 trillion and 200 billion yuan, an increase of 1.7%, accounting for 46.4% of the total value of exports, and become the main force of exports.

China's exports to some countries related to "one belt and one road" were better, and the new export market was fostering. Among them, exports to India and Russia increased by 7.2% and 12.4% respectively, and exports to ASEAN countries were 1.8% lower than the overall export decline.

According to the preliminary estimates of the General Administration of customs, in the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports with the "one belt and one road" countries exceeded 4 trillion and 520 billion yuan, accounting for about 1/4 of China's total foreign trade value in the same period.

In terms of imports, imports of new and high technology products increased by 1.4%, of which 5.3% of integrated circuit imports and 2.8% of automatic data processing equipment and components.

However, due to the sluggish global economic recovery, the import and export situation is still grim.

On the one hand, from the international environment, the two engines of international trade and international investment stall. IMF expects the world economy to grow by 3.1% in 2016, 0.1 percentage points lower than that in 2015. WTO also downgraded the growth of global merchandise trade volume to 1.7% in 2016, and Global trade was at its most severe in 30 years.

Data show that in the first 8 months of 2016, China suffered 85 trade relief investigations initiated by 20 countries (regions). The amount involved was $10 billion 300 million, the number of cases increased by 49%, and the amount involved increased by 94%.

The US general election has just come to a close, and Trump's taking office further increased the risk of the rise of trade protectionism.

On the other hand, from the domestic situation, the pformation of China's foreign trade from the traditional competitive advantage to the new competitive advantage has not yet been completed.

Data show that in October, China's foreign trade export pilot index was 35.6, ending a 3 consecutive month of recovery, a slight decrease of 0.2 compared with the previous month; the new export orders index and import index were 49.2% and 49.9%, respectively, and returned to the critical point; the PMI of small and medium enterprises were 49.9% and 48.3%, respectively, though they rebounded, but still lower than the ups and downs.

The problems such as tight funds and insufficient market demand are still outstanding.

According to the data of the 120th Canton Fair, the proportion of short and medium orders is high, and the short and medium order accounts for 81.6% in less than 6 months.

At the same time, considering the high import and export base in the fourth quarter of last year, the downward pressure on foreign trade is still large.

In the face of severe and complex development of foreign trade, the state's support for the development of foreign trade has been increasing, and the steady combination of foreign trade has been launched. In particular, the export tax rebate rate of value-added tax from over 400 kinds of products, such as electromechanical products and refined oil products, has been announced since November 1st. The total export tax rebate rate to 17% products, including cameras, cameras, internal combustion engines, gasoline, aviation kerosene, diesel and toy electric trains, will bring 418 real benefits to foreign trade enterprises, and will play a positive role in further promoting the stability of foreign trade.

At the same time, we should also see that it is important for the government to create a relaxed business environment and implement positive stimulus measures, but enterprises are the foundation of steady growth of foreign trade, and also an important source of new competitive advantages in foreign trade.

It is gratifying to note that, despite the fact that the development of foreign trade is not optimistic, some enterprises are actively adapting to the development and pformation of the situation, actively promoting pformation and upgrading, and have made great achievements in international competition.

For example, the double boy commodity company, which produces straw in Yiwu, has made traditional products into high-tech products by constantly strengthening its own innovation, and has become the invisible champion of output value. In the past 10 years, the output value has always maintained an average annual growth of two digits.

Therefore, the more difficult times are, the more confidence the foreign trade enterprises must maintain, seize the opportunity of the current reform and pformation, take the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" express train, accelerate the cultivation of new competitive advantages, and realize the pformation from "runner" to "leader".

The steady growth of foreign trade has a long way to go. Only by combining all sides can we overcome difficulties and jointly promote the stability of China's foreign trade.