Stable growth of foreign trade expected

China's foreign trade is expected to post stable growth this year, despite unprecedented challenges, including high raw material costs and fierce competition from Southeast Asian countries, analysts and trade experts said on Wednesday. The profitability of exporters in most sectors has improved during the second quarter, according to a survey by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Beijing. Major challenges facing foreign trade enterprises, such as high costs of logistics, have eased, the survey showed. "It is worth noting that trade data got better not only from quarter to quarter, but also from month to month during the second quarter. June is likely to have witnessed a strong foreign trade rebound and more energetic economic recovery," said Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. The survey showed more than 25 percent of enterprises registered positive quarter-on-quarter revenue growth, while nearly 20 percent said they have secured profit growth from a quarter ago. More than 26 percent of the respondents are confident about year-on-year revenue growth, and about 28 percent said they expect their revenues to be at least the same as last year's level. Liu predicted that China's foreign trade is likely to exceed 40 trillion yuan ($5.97 trillion) this year, with policy measures showing off the advantages of the nation's resilient supply and industrial chains. The exporters also benefited from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, which took effect on Jan 1, and interest rate increases by the United States, which Liu believes will facilitate China's exports. The survey found that new trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce provided strong support to export growth, and the nation's policies to ease the burdens of foreign trade enterprises, such as ensuring smooth logistics and speeding up tax and fee reductions, have boosted the sector as well. More than 40 percent of enterprises in the survey said they have become familiar with RCEP rules, up 17.69 percentage points from the first quarter. About 54 percent plan to use those rules for their benefit. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has also issued 43,600 RCEP certificates of origin for more than 10,000 enterprises. Chen Jia, a researcher at the International Monetary Institute at Renmin University of China, said that even though there were some transfers of production capacities and export orders from China to other countries during the second quarter, the nation proved its strong resilience in foreign trade and ample flexibility in the industrial chain as the better-than-expected trade data showed. Zhao Shengmei, general manager of Newcom Group, a bag and travel luggage manufacturer in Pinghu, Zhejiang province, said the company currently is recruiting more workers as orders in the first half of 2022 have already reached the whole-year level of 2021. A report released on Wednesday by the People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, showed that the export order index came in at 41 percent in the second quarter, down 9.6 percentage points from the same period in 2021. The figure increased by just 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter of the year. Liu Xiangdong, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said Vietnam's fast export growth will not threaten China's position in the global supply chain in the short term due to their closely integrated industrial chains. He said China must enhance the resilience of the industrial chain and work with neighboring countries to mitigate risks and boost export volume in high-end manufacturing.

2022-06-30

Foreign trade set to post stable growth this year

The surging volume of foreign trade in China is squeezing some companies, which are scrambling to find workers for their factories to fill their export orders. Zhao Shengmei, general manager of Newcom Group, a suitcase manufacturer based in Zhejiang province, would arrive at her office and immediately call the head of the human resource department to ask how many workers had been recruited the previous day, as their orders in the first half of 2022 have already reached the whole-year level of last year. "At a peak time in early June, we exported more than 40 containers in a single day," Zhao said, adding that the company shipped only 10 containers to foreign markets during the same period last year. Now the company desperately needs to recruit 300 workers to meet the exploding demand for its products. The company in Pinghu already employs more than 1,100 people and ships about 20 containers to overseas markets, mainly to the Netherlands, Japan and Canada, each day. Analysts said China's foreign trade is expected to post stable growth this year, despite unprecedented challenges, which include high raw material costs and fierce competition from countries in Southeast Asia. The profitability of exporters in most sectors improved during the second quarter. Major challenges facing export-oriented companies, such as the high costs of logistics, have eased, according to a survey released this week by the Beijing-based China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. China's foreign trade rose 8.3 percent year-on-year to 16.04 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion) in the first five months of 2022, according to the General Administration of Customs. "Trade data got better not only from quarter to quarter, but also from month to month during the second quarter. June is likely to have experienced a strong foreign trade rebound and more energetic economic recovery," said Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. The survey found that more than 25 percent of companies registered positive quarter-on-quarter revenue growth. More than 26 percent of the respondents were confident about year-on-year revenue growth, and about 28 percent said they expect their revenues to be at least the same as last year's level. In the area of high-end manufacturing, Shi Hongliang, vice-president of Jiangsu Weiteli Motor Ltd, a Taizhou, Jiangsu province-based exporter of electric vehicle drive motors, said its orders for motors used on electric construction machinery during the January-June period exceeded the total order volume logged in 2021. As many foreign companies have adopted a green approach to save on the cost of diesel fuel, Shi predicts the market in this category is expected to grow more than 300 percent year-on-year in 2022. The survey also found that new trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce provided strong support to export growth, and the nation's policies to ease the burdens of foreign trade enterprises, such as ensuring smooth logistics and speeding up tax and fee reductions, have boosted the sector as well. Progress in global market Although many Chinese exporters, mainly in low-end industries, are facing transformation difficulties due to increased costs and reduced orders, the country's leading manufacturers have made progress in building a global presence, said Sherri He, managing director for China of Kearney, a United States-based management consulting firm. She said that many of the country's manufacturers of finished products, especially in the garment and furniture industries, have already established factories in overseas markets. Many in fields such as auto parts and electric wiring are also setting up international operations. A report released in late June by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, showed that the export order index came in at 41 percent in the second quarter, down 9.6 percentage points from the same period in 2021. The figure grew by just 0.1 percentage point from the first quarter of the year. Liu Xiangdong, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said China must enhance the resilience of the industrial chain and work with neighboring countries to mitigate risks and boost export volume in high-end manufacturing.

2022-07-05

China on road to economic recovery

China's economy is expected to maintain a stable recovery in the second half of the year with a series of adjustment policies taking effect, experts and professionals were quoted as saying in a yicai.com report. In the second quarter, China saw GDP grow 0.4 percent year-on-year. "Achieving positive growth in Q2 was not easy", said Fu Linghui, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics. Due to increasingly complicated international environment and sporadic virus outbreak domestically, the supply chain and logistics were disrupted, which increased pressure on social consumption and investment activities. However, as virus shocks gradually eased starting in May, national economic indicators began to rebound significantly in June. Guan Tao, chief economist of BOC International, said China's macroeconomic adjustment policies are very effective, and the country should continuously ensure the smooth implementation of policies in H2 to offset uncertainties brought by the external environment. In April, value-added industrial output fell 2.9 percent from a year earlier, but the figure turned positive in May and posted a 3.9-percent increase in June as enterprises accelerated work resumption and supply chain woes gradually eased. Value-added output in automobile manufacturing surged 16.2 percent year-on-year in June, ending a three-month decline from March to May. The strong rebound was mainly boosted by policy stimulus, including vehicle purchase tax cuts, said Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist at Ping An Securities. On the consumption side, retail sales of consumer goods in the first half reached 21.04 trillion yuan ($3.12 trillion), down 0.7 percent year-on-year. In June, the figure turned positive with growth of 3.1 percent. Sheng Songcheng, dean of the China Chief Economist Forum Institute, said recovery in consumption is a major challenge to maintaining steady economic growth this year. The most effective way to boost consumption is to resume work and production in an all-around way and ensure the smooth operation of market entities, Sheng said. Investment is playing a more prominent role in supporting economic development this year, with fixed asset investment rising 6.1 percent yearly to 27.14 trillion yuan. Infrastructure construction investment increased 7.1 percent in H1 and rose 12 percent year-on-year in June as the country added 800 billion yuan of credit and raised up to 300 billion through financial bond issuance for the capital replenishment of major infrastructure projects, Zhong said. The government work report for 2022 set the GDP growth target of around 5.5 percent for the whole year. China is expected to keep up stable recovery in the second half with its vast domestic market and strong development resilience, Fu said, but it still has to make unremitting efforts to achieve this goal amid uncertainties both at home and abroad. Lian Ping, chief economist and head of the Zhixin Investment Research Institute, said China's economy throughout the year is likely to have a strong rebound and the third quarter could be the period with the highest growth rate. The most important thing is to enhance the implementation of adjustment policies and make sure the policies work as soon as possible, said Wang Yiming, former vice-president of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

2022-07-18

Beijing issues coupons to boost catering consumption

BEIJING - Beijing began issuing coupons worth a total of 100 million yuan ($14.82 million) on Monday to spur catering consumption, according to the municipal commerce bureau. Funded by the government and platform enterprises that provide catering services, the promotional campaign is expected to cover more than 70,000 restaurants, the bureau said. The first batch of restaurant coupons was issued through online platforms, such as Ele.me and Meituan. The restaurant coupon issuance is among a host of measures the Chinese capital has been implementing to revitalize the consumer market impacted by COVID-19. Other measures include launching coupons for accommodations in the suburban areas, expanding vehicle consumption and launching events to boost digital, cultural and sports consumption. Related Stories

2022-07-19

RCEP does wonders to Gansu's trade figures

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement that came into force this year has helped expand trade cooperation between Gansu province and the RCEP member states. Gansu's trade with RCEP member states hit 6.42 billion yuan (about $1 billion) in the first six months this year, up 40 percent year-on-year, according to a statement released by Lanzhou Customs on Friday. Meanwhile the province's import and export volume with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 15.4 billion yuan between January and June, up 25.2 percent year-on-year and representing 47.3 percent of Gansu's total foreign trade volume, the statement said. Gansu's good foreign trade performance with RCEP members and BRI nations have helped the northwestern province achieve a year-on-year foreign trade growth of 24.6 percent to hit 32.58 billion yuan in the six months ending June. The province's foreign trade growth rate ranked eighth in the country this year, helping promote Gansu's overall economic development, said the statement. Gansu sold 6.16 billion yuan worth of products abroad while purchasing goods valued at 26.42 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 49.4 percent and 20 percent year-on-year respectively. The province's export value of mechanical and electrical products came to 2.89 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.9 percent, while its export of agricultural products grew even faster, at a year-on-year increase of 38.8 percent, to reach 1.2 billion yuan in the first two quarters. Meanwhile, Gansu's import of metal, ore sand and new nickel and cobalt materials increased significantly this year. The import of new nickel and cobalt materials registered a year-on-year growth of 165.9 percent to reach 3.71 billion yuan in the first six months. The import value of metal and ore sands reached 15.04 billion yuan from January to June, a year-on-year increase of 21.5 percent.

2022-07-23

How amazing trade fair set record amid heat wave

It was a typical September day in Xiamen, Fujian province－heat wave accompanied by humidity were on the rampage, and people were eager to find shelter from the sun. Any shade would be welcome, thank you. Yet, in front of the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center, men and women in business professional attire were a busy lot. They went through the security checks in an orderly way, to reach the 22nd China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), held from Sept 8 to 11. Initiated 25 years ago, the fair has become one of the world's largest and most influential events of its kind for the promotion of international investment and free trade. People's enthusiasm for the event remained high despite the unpleasant weather and the overhang of the COVID-19 pandemic. During my stay, I conducted a number of interviews. I heard fair participants repeatedly say that the four-day event fully demonstrated China's devotion to boosting two-way investment and global economic recovery. The nation is also capable of sustaining its attraction for foreign investment despite the slowdown in global foreign investment activities, multinational corporation executives and experts said. Huang Bin, chairman of Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals China Co, a subsidiary of the UK-headquartered pharma giant, said China's continuously improving business environment and its promising economic prospects have been offering broad development space for foreign investors. He spoke highly of the nation's efforts to build a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment through concrete actions. The implementation of the new foreign investment law, the continuous downsizing of the negative list for foreign investment, and the nation's applications to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement demonstrate China's resolve in this regard, he said. The two pacts are widely considered as representative of high-level international trade and investment liberalization standards. Despite challenges, China's long-term economic prospects are bright, Huang said, adding foreign investors and MNCs, including AstraZeneca, are confident about their development prospects in China. Wang Jie, vice-president of Schneider Electric, also said the company sees great development opportunities in China, its second-largest market, as the nation accelerates industrial digitalization and pays increasing attention to sustainable development. The CIFIT in Xiamen mirrored such strong confidence－more than 480 project deals with a combined investment value of 342 billion yuan ($49.11 billion) were signed. More than 800 industrial and trade groups, more than 4,000 enterprises, and about 60,000 business people from over 90 countries and regions attended the fair online and offline. That is to say, the combined number of fair participants and exhibition visitors set a new record in the fair's history.

2022-09-19