"Stable start"! my countrys foreign trade continued to stabilize and improve in the first quarter

According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, the total value of my country's import and export of goods reached 10.17 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%. Foreign trade showed a trend of stabilization and improvement.

A steady start and increased confidence

In the first quarter, the scale of my country's goods trade exceeded 10 trillion yuan in a single quarter, and the growth rate of imports and exports hit a new high in the past six quarters. The contribution rate of net exports to economic growth rose to 14.5%.

Vice Minister of Commerce Guo Tingting said that the performance of foreign trade is strongly related to the domestic economy. In the first quarter, GDP grew by 5.3% year-on-year, and the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size grew by 6.1% year-on-year, providing a solid foundation for consolidating the basic foreign trade.

At the same time, China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 50.8% in March, returning to the expansion range. Recently, a questionnaire survey of more than 20,000 exhibitors at the 135th Canton Fair showed that the proportion of companies with increased or flat orders on hand reached 81.5%, an increase of 16.8 percentage points from the previous session. Companies are relatively optimistic about the order situation and are more enthusiastic about exploring international markets.

In addition, key industries have stabilized and improved, and the momentum has continued to increase. In the first quarter, my country's integrated circuit exports increased by 24.2%, imports increased by 14.3%; computer and parts exports increased by 8.6%, demonstrating my country's industrial supporting and integration capabilities.

In terms of US dollars, the total import and export volume in March fell by 5.1% year-on-year. Bai Ming, a member of the Degree Committee and researcher of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said that this was partly due to the high base in the same period last year; on the other hand, it was affected by trade protectionism, the slowdown of the US and EU economies, etc.

The Ministry of Commerce's recent survey of key foreign trade enterprises showed that the proportion of enterprises reflecting employment growth in March increased by 1.7 percentage points from the previous two months to 88.8%, and corporate confidence and expectations were further enhanced.

Export structure optimization and upgrading

New textile fabrics with waterless printing and dyeing, biodegradable tableware made of bagasse, and more energy-saving air source heat pump equipment are popular in overseas markets. Today, my country's low-carbon, energy-saving and environmentally friendly products are very popular internationally.

In recent years, my country's export structure has been continuously optimized and upgraded, and the export momentum of high-tech, high-value-added products leading the green and low-carbon transformation is good.

Li Xingqian, Director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said that a large number of Chinese foreign trade enterprises focus on improving their independent research and development capabilities and promoting digital, intelligent and green transformation, and China's manufacturing industry's innovative advantages are taking shape.

From the perspective of trade mode, the proportion of my country's general trade exports continues to increase, reaching 64.6% in 2023, which reflects the continuous enhancement of my country's independent development capabilities in foreign trade. Processing trade extends from traditional processing and manufacturing links to high value-added links such as design and maintenance. In 2023, the proportion of technical products in my country's total processing trade exports will increase to 53%.

Judging from my country's export performance in the first quarter, on the one hand, industries such as automobiles and equipment manufacturing have condensed the innovative achievements of long and full industrial chains, and the export foundation of complete sets of equipment is solid.

On the other hand, the export demand for smart products has increased. my country's export products are developing towards "specialization, precision and innovation" and deepening the subdivision field. Customs data show that China's industrial robot exports will grow by 86.4% in 2023.

At the same time, traditional labor-intensive products still have competitive advantages. In the first quarter, my country's exports of labor-intensive products increased by 9.1%, among which textile and clothing exports increased by 5.4%, plastic products exports increased by 14%, and furniture and parts exports increased by 23.5%.

Accelerate foreign trade innovation

At present, the challenges facing my country's foreign trade development are still not small. Recently, the WTO released a global trade outlook and statistics report, which lowered the growth rate of goods trade volume in 2024 to 2.6%, 0.7 percentage points lower than the forecast in October last year. At the same time, some countries have politicized trade issues, and enterprises face more interference and difficulties in expanding markets.

To this end, my country is accelerating foreign trade innovation, aiming at the direction and future of international trade development such as greening and digitalization, and continuously stimulating new momentum for foreign trade product innovation and structural upgrading.

In promoting the green development of trade, my country's foreign trade enterprises have always been at the forefront of global carbon emission reduction practices, actively promoting the transformation of green and low-carbon concepts into products and services in design and development, raw material procurement, production and manufacturing. Taking Zhejiang as an example, in the first quarter, the green certificate transactions in Zhejiang Province were equivalent to 5.94 billion kWh of electricity. In the logistics and warehousing links, more and more companies have begun to use new energy heavy trucks and ships for transportation, reducing carbon emissions in foreign trade transportation and delivery links. In terms of improving the level of trade digitalization, digital technology is penetrating into the entire process and all links of trade, injecting new impetus into the development of international trade.

In the field of green development, my country will provide training, explain rules, and interpret policies for enterprises to enhance the awareness and ability of green and low-carbon development of foreign trade enterprises; provide a regular public service platform for the society, select and publish typical cases nationwide, and promote experience and practices; strengthen communication and consultation in multiple and bilateral channels to expand the market space for green products.

Li Xingqian said that in the field of trade digitalization, my country will guide more trading entities to use electronic trade documents, promote the interconnection between document platform companies, accelerate the construction of global trade digitalization in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, cultivate leading companies in digital transformation, and at the same time rely on multi-bilateral platforms to strengthen trade digitalization cooperation with trading partners and jointly explore more landing scenarios in the trade field.

Source: Economic Daily