China's foreign trade 'rebound curve' demonstrates resilience and vitality by focusing on 'new' impetus.

People's Daily, Beijing, June 16 (Reporter Li Qiaochu) Recently, data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first five months of this year, China's total import and export value of goods reached 17.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%. Among them, the import and export volume in May reached 3.71 trillion yuan, with the growth rate increasing by 0.6 percentage points to 8.6% compared with April.

From the ups and downs of exports in the first quarter to the continuous improvement in April and May, China's foreign trade import and export has shown a steady "rebound curve".

Industry insiders said that the continuous consolidation of the positive momentum of foreign trade is closely related to the continuous recovery and improvement of China's economic operation. Driven by the good momentum of exports of high-end, intelligent, and green products and the steady expansion of import scale, the monthly import and export growth rate has further accelerated.

Looking at the "rebound curve", the structure of China's export commodities is constantly being optimized. Customs data shows that in the first five months of this year, the proportion of electromechanical products with high technology content and added value accounted for nearly 60% of exports. Among them, exports of ships, electric vehicles, and household appliances increased by 100.1%, 26.3%, and 17.8%, respectively.

On June 13, customs officers from Xiamen Customs went to the Xiamen Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Wharf to conduct trial water supervision work for a 2900TEU container ship built by Xiamen Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., which will be exported overseas in the near future.

According to statistics from Xiamen Customs, from January to May, Fujian Province exported 5.54 billion yuan worth of ships, a year-on-year increase of 219.8%. Among them, exports to countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" reached 5.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 487.2%, accounting for 94.8% of Fujian Province's total ship exports during the same period. Among them, bulk carriers and container ships are the "leading products" of Fujian's ship exports, with exports of 3.01 billion yuan and 1.71 billion yuan from January to May, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 6.8 times and 10 times, respectively, accounting for 85.2% of Fujian Province's total ship exports during the same period.

From traditional labor-intensive products and agricultural products accounting for the majority to the "new three items" leading the way, Hubei's foreign trade structure is constantly being optimized. According to statistics from Wuhan Customs, in the first five months of this year, Hubei's total import and export value reached 262.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. Among them, exports reached 179.46 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1%; imports reached 83.04 billion yuan, an increase of 10.8%. Among them, exports of the "new three items" (new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products) reached 8.41 billion yuan, an increase of more than 80%.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the heat wave came. Nowadays, home appliance consumption is entering a new stage of health, greenness, and intelligence. To stand out in the market, we must move towards "new". According to statistics from Nanjing Customs, in the first four months of this year, Jiangsu Province exported 21.49 billion yuan worth of household appliances, a year-on-year increase of 26.1%. Among them, exports of electric fans, air conditioners, and refrigerators were 1.28 billion yuan, 0.76 billion yuan, and 3.93 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year increases of 52.3%, 1.2%, and 25.4%, respectively.

Behind these sets of data reflects China's advantages of a super-large-scale market. Industry insiders said that as the world's second-largest consumer goods market, new technologies and new products are fully competitive in China and quickly achieve commercialization, thus being recognized by a wider international market.

On June 2, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement came into full effect for 15 signatory countries for one year. Over the past year, the role of RCEP in reducing regional international trade costs has become increasingly prominent.

“In the first five months of this year, our company exported 2 million yuan worth of electric vehicle parts to Indonesia. With the RCEP certificate of origin issued by the customs, these goods can enjoy a 5 percentage point tariff reduction compared to the preferential tariff under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement when importing and clearing customs.” said a relevant person in charge of a certain machinery technology company in Linyi, Shandong.

Enterprises have gained broader markets thanks to China's continuous proactive alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules in recent years. In addition to RCEP, negotiations on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 version are being promoted, and efforts are being made to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Industry experts said that steadily expanding institutional opening up is both a necessary requirement for firmly promoting in-depth reforms, promoting high-quality development, and serving Chinese-style modernization with high-level opening up to the outside world, and also promoting the construction of an open world economy and upholding the correct direction of economic globalization.

Zhao Ping, spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), said that since the beginning of this year, China's goods trade has continued the upward trend since the fourth quarter of last year, the foreign trade structure has been continuously optimized, the international market share has been stable and improving, the stable foreign trade policy has continued to exert its efforts, and the confidence and vitality of enterprises have increased. According to a recent survey by CCPIT, 81.6% of foreign trade enterprises predict that exports will improve or remain flat in the first half of the year, and 65.1% of surveyed enterprises have seen an increase or flat growth in new orders compared to the previous quarter.

“Specifically, first, improved external demand has driven faster export growth. The World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and others predict that the global economic growth outlook will improve in 2024. Second, advantageous products support foreign trade growth. Exports of integrated circuits, automobiles, and ships and other electromechanical products have maintained strong growth. Third, new productivity is driving the development of foreign trade enterprises. Shipbuilding, intelligent manufacturing, and other enterprises have accelerated technological and business model innovation, and have made new progress in product design and manufacturing quality. Nearly 30% of surveyed enterprises feel that the development of new productivity has added new impetus to exports.” said Zhao Ping.

Regarding the foreign trade situation in the second half of the year, He Yadong, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said that the Ministry of Commerce will further leverage the comprehensive effectiveness of the stable foreign trade policy, effectively help enterprises overcome difficulties, continuously cultivate new impetus for foreign trade, and make every effort to promote high-quality and stable foreign trade.