In 2020, China's foreign trade has risen to the challenge, import and export has achieved positive growth for 7 consecutive months since June 2020, and the total value of import and export for the whole year has both hit a record high, further consolidating its position as the largest country in goods trade, showing strong resilience and comprehensive competitiveness.
"In 2020, in the face of unprecedented difficulties and challenges, China's foreign trade has delivered a brilliant report card, which is not easy."Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and head of the statistics and analysis department, said at a news conference of the office on Jan 14.
Private enterprises have become an important driving force for import and export growth
In 2020, China's foreign trade has risen to the challenge. Its import and export have achieved positive growth for seven consecutive months since June 2020, and the total value of both imports and exports for the whole year has reached a record high, further consolidating its position as the largest country in goods trade and demonstrating its strong resilience and comprehensive competitiveness.
The structure of foreign trade was further improved.In 2020, the growth rate of import and export of private enterprises is 9.2 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade in the same period, becoming an important driving force for the growth of China's foreign trade.The proportion of imports and exports in general trade continued to rise, up 0.9 percentage points over 2019.The development of foreign trade regions became more balanced, and further progress was made in the central and western regions in accepting industrial transfer from the eastern region. The import and export volume of foreign trade in the central and western regions increased by 11%, up 1.4 percentage points from 2019, to 17.5%.
Trade partners are becoming more diverse.In 2020, China's top five trading partners are ASEAN, the European Union, the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and its import and export to countries along the "One Belt And One Road" routes will reach 9.37 trillion yuan, an increase of 1%.
"The export of anti-epidemic materials has strongly supported the global fight against the epidemic."China has played the role of the world's largest supplier of anti-epidemic materials, actively carried out international cooperation in fighting the epidemic, and made every effort to provide and export anti-epidemic materials to more than 200 countries and regions around the world, Li said.From March to the end of 2020, China's customs inspected and released a total of 438.5 billion yuan worth of major materials for epidemic prevention and control.Among them, 224.2 billion masks were exported, worth 340 billion yuan, equivalent to nearly 40 masks for every person in the world outside China.China exported 2.31 billion pairs of protective clothing, 289 million pairs of goggles and 2.92 billion pairs of surgical gloves.271,000 export ventilators, 663,000 patient monitors, and 119 million infrared thermometers were installed.
The business environment at ports has been continuously improved, and enterprise costs have been further reduced
In 2020, local customs will continue to improve customs clearance facilitation and optimize the port business environment.
Facilitation measures such as "two-step declaration", "advance declaration" and "green channel" will be comprehensively promoted to improve customs clearance efficiency.In December last year, the overall customs clearance time for imports and exports was 34.91 hours and 1.78 hours respectively, 64.2 percent and 85.5 percent lower than that of 2017.
A total of 3,509 enterprises participated in the trial of tariff guarantee insurance, and guaranteed tax payments reached 377.6 billion yuan, of which nearly 80 percent were small and medium-sized enterprises, effectively alleviating the difficulties and high cost of financing for enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
"Due to the impact of the epidemic, a large number of international flights have been suspended and the traditional transport capacity has plummeted. The General Administration of Customs has promptly issued ten measures to support the development of China-Europe freight trains to ensure the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain."Li Kuiwen introduced that China-Europe freight trains operated 12,400 trains in the whole year, delivering 1.35 million TEU, up 50% and 56% respectively compared with the same period last year, and the comprehensive heavy container rate reached 98.4%.
We will resolutely guard against the risk of importing the epidemic, and promptly do a good job in relevant work before the implementation of the RCEP
At present, the global epidemic situation is still grim. The General Administration of Customs has strengthened quarantine of imported cold-chain food in strict accordance with the requirements of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council.At present, 124 cold-chain food manufacturers in 21 countries have suspended the import of their products after employees were infected with CoviD-19. Among them, 107 companies voluntarily suspended their export to China after the outbreak.
Last November, China signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).According to customs statistics, in 2020, China's total import and export value with RCEP members reached 10.2 trillion yuan, up 3.5%, accounting for 31.7 percent of China's total import and export value in the same period.Exports accounted for 4.83 trillion yuan, up 5%;Imports were 5.37 trillion yuan, up 2.2%.
Li Kuiwen said that the RCEP is the largest free trade area in the world, covering about 30 percent of the world's population, 30 percent of the global economy and 30 percent of foreign trade.The General Administration of Customs is stepping up preparations for the implementation of the RCEP in line with its responsibilities.Policy publicity will be intensified to help enterprises understand and master the rules of tariff concessions and benefits, so as to lay a solid foundation for the full benefits of preferential agreements.At the same time, we should focus on the possible difficulties in the implementation of RCEP, strengthen internal research and training, and make preparations in advance so as to better serve enterprises.
