China'S Foreign Trade In The First Half Of The Year Was "Too Difficult", But The Data Was Better Than Expected

"Now the company has so many orders that the workers are too busy."

This is the feeling of Wang Lixin, chairman of the board of darrente Crafts Co., Ltd., which proves the improvement of China's foreign trade situation.

On July 14, the General Administration of Customs released China's foreign trade data for the first half of the year, and the overall performance was better than expected.

Drawing by Wei leichao and Li Xueyao

Export growth for three consecutive months

Although China's foreign trade shrank by 3.3% in the first half of the year, China's foreign trade fell by 3.3% in the first half of the year. Among them, the import and export in June achieved positive growth for the first time in the year.

From the monthly trend, the import and export in June increased by 5.1% year-on-year, and the export kept positive growth for three consecutive months since April; after the double-digit decline in April and may, the import "turned negative to positive" in June, increasing by 6.2%.

"The overall performance of foreign trade import and export in the first half of the year was better than expected." This is the judgment of Li Kui Wen, spokesman of the General Administration of customs and director of the statistical analysis department.

At present, the epidemic is still spreading all over the world. The world economy is in a serious recession. International trade and investment have shrunk sharply. Chinese foreign trade enterprises have gone through a hard time since this year. "The first half of the epidemic has just been played in China, and the second half has been continued in foreign countries. The foreign trade companies are watching the whole scene."

Many enterprises had zero orders in the first quarter, and some enterprises fell into new difficulties in the second quarter, because there were some final orders in 2019 in the first quarter. However, after March, with the changes of overseas epidemic situation, new orders could not be received, and they were faced with the dilemma of returning to work and stopping work.

Under such circumstances, why can China's foreign trade situation exceed expectations?

On the one hand, it is the self-help of enterprises, on the other hand, it is the help of the government.

Drawing by Wei leichao and Li Xueyao

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce of the people's Republic of China, told China news. Com that the epidemic situation in China was under control, and enterprises were first promoted to return to work and production. In addition, a series of supporting policies, such as export tax rebate policy, increasing foreign trade credit, and supporting export to domestic sales, helped foreign trade enterprises overcome difficulties, ensure the market and guarantee orders, and effectively promoted exports.

Take the export tax rebate policy as an example. From January to May this year, a total of 632.4 billion yuan of export tax rebate was handled for enterprises.

Yunnan Ruili Huayuan import and Export Co., Ltd. received three tax rebates. "The increase of export tax rebate rate is a good policy for our export enterprises. Among them, after the export tax rebate rate of 1084 products was increased to 13%, many products such as biological agents produced by us have benefited. At present, we have received tax refund of 2418400 yuan, which greatly helps us tide over the difficulties. " On the export tax rebate new deal, the company's financial director said.

It is understood that the company is mainly engaged in the export business of mineral products and chemical products. Due to the epidemic situation, the export of goods and foreign orders have been greatly affected. From February to April this year, the sales revenue decreased by 52% compared with the same period of last year. Facing greater capital pressure, the "increased" export tax rebate has solved the urgent needs of the enterprise.

Pattern change: ASEAN becomes the largest trade partner

Looking at the pattern of China's foreign trade in the first half of the year, there is a big change, that is, ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner.

Among China's top ten trading partners, growth and decline accounted for half, while in the second quarter alone, 8 showed growth. Among them, the most eye-catching performance is ASEAN.

In the first half of this year, the value of imports and exports between China and ASEAN reached 2.09 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%, accounting for 14.7% of China's total foreign trade, an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the same period last year.

Over the same period, China's imports and exports to the EU totaled 1.99 trillion yuan, down 1.8%; China's imports and exports to the United States totaled 1.64 trillion yuan, down 6.6%.

Why can ASEAN become China's largest trading partner?

According to Li Kui Wen, this is due to the relatively good situation of epidemic prevention and control in the region as a whole, and in recent years, the economic and trade cooperation with China has continued to deepen, the industrial chain has been more closely integrated, and the bilateral trade has steadily increased.

Future prospects: can exports continue to grow positively?

It is undeniable that the import and export situation in the second half of the year is still complex and grim. The world trade organization is expected to decline by 32% to 20% of the world trade organization.

Li Kuiwen said that China's foreign trade development has sufficient resilience and room for maneuver. With the continuous release of the effects of a series of policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade, China is confident to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and strive to promote the stability and quality of import and export.

In Bai Ming's opinion, it also depends on the situation of overseas epidemic control. If the epidemic situation is gradually controlled, with the recovery of foreign demand and the increase of orders, China's export is expected to maintain a rising trend.

In the view of Li Chao, chief economist of Zheshang securities, China's export will have three strong supports in the future: the export of epidemic prevention materials is still accelerating, which has a pulling effect on the whole export; overseas economies are gradually restarting, and foreign demand is speeding up repair; the global industrial chain is in the remodeling stage, and China's leading economic recovery occupies a dominant position in the global competition, which helps to boost exports.

Some foreign trade enterprises were also optimistic about China's export performance in the second half of the year. Zhuhai kelitong Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. said that the company's new signing list from January to May increased by more than 20% compared with the same period last year, and the annual export is expected to increase by 20% to 30%. (end)