Ministry Of Commerce: The Foreign Trade Situation In 2021 Is Grim And Complicated, And Policy Support Will Be Increased!

A few days ago, at the press conference of the office of the State Council of new China, the Ministry of Commerce said that the development situation of foreign trade and foreign investment this year is grim and complex, with challenges and opportunities coexisting, and has made multiple arrangements to stabilize the basic foreign trade and foreign investment. In the aspect of stabilizing foreign trade, we will focus on the implementation of the plan of preferential import and export, the plan of trade industry integration and the plan of unimpeded trade; in terms of stabilizing foreign investment, we will continue to unswervingly expand the opening up, promote the reduction of foreign capital access threshold, actively promote the construction of open platform, and create a better business environment.

Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, said at the press conference that the foreign trade situation in 2021 is grim and complex. This year's goal is to firmly stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment, and focus on the implementation of the plan of preferential import and export, the plan of trade industry integration and the plan of unimpeded trade. First, we should continue to strengthen policy support. The Ministry of Commerce will maintain the continuity, stability and sustainability of policies with local and relevant departments. The Ministry of commerce is now regularly listening to the problems and calls from foreign trade enterprises, such as solving the problems of poor international logistics and high logistics costs, such as consolidating and improving export credit insurance, etc., to maintain the continuity and stability of policies, and to adjust policies in time in the face of new situations.

The second is to ensure the stability and smoothness of foreign trade industry chain and supply chain. Efforts should be made in the integration and development of trade industry, a number of foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases will be newly identified, and a number of processing trade industrial parks will be cultivated. The Ministry of Commerce will also build a number of national import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zones, expand the import scale, and promote the quality and efficiency of related industries.

Third, help foreign trade enterprises to stabilize orders and expand the market. We will make good use of the important exhibition platforms such as the Canton Fair and the first consumer Expo, so as to make contributions to stabilizing orders and expanding the market for enterprises. At the same time, according to the changes of the epidemic situation, the online and offline forces were synchronized. We will also strengthen the construction of international marketing system, especially the upgrading and development of overseas warehouses, and promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade. We will also work with more trade partners, especially countries related to the belt and road initiative, to establish a working mechanism for smooth trade and create a good international environment for foreign trade enterprises.

Fourth, we should actively cultivate new forms and models of foreign trade. After the epidemic, new business forms and models of foreign trade have played an important role, such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade. In 2020, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce will reach 1.69 trillion yuan, an increase of 31.1%. Market procurement will export 704.54 billion yuan in 2020, an increase of 25.2%. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will further expand its support for new formats and new models, and make contributions to stabilizing foreign trade this year.

Regarding the steady situation of foreign investment this year, Wang Wentao said that China's actual use of foreign capital in the non-financial sector increased by 4.5% last year, becoming the largest foreign capital inflow country in the world. The situation in January this year was also relatively good. "However, our judgment on this year is the same as the previous stable foreign trade situation. The grim and complex situation of stabilizing foreign investment is due to its uncertainty." Wang Wentao said that this year's global FDI will further decline by 5% - 10% on the basis of the 42% decline last year. The situation is grim, but opportunities also exist. The Ministry of Commerce will, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, focus on promoting the utilization of foreign capital to stabilize the total amount, optimize the structure and improve the quality.