As the effects of steady foreign trade policies continue to emerge, imports and exports across various regions are beginning to show signs of recovery.
Data from the General Administration of Customs show that in the first eight months of this year, China's total imports and exports reached 20.05 trillion yuan, down 0.6% year on year, with the decline narrowing by 1.1 percentage points compared with the first seven months and close to turning positive.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, said this was due to effective epidemic control at home, which allowed the economy to recover earlier than many other countries, along with strong policy support. After burdens were reduced for enterprises, their competitive edge in exports became more prominent. "Foreign trade data in many provinces has rebounded, and some have even achieved sustained positive growth," he said.
Indeed, as 21st Century Business Herald reporters found after sorting through the data, among the 14 provinces that have published foreign trade figures for the first eight months, 11 posted year-on-year growth in total imports and exports. In terms of growth rate, the top five were Jiangxi, Sichuan, Anhui, Chongqing, and Henan. In terms of total volume, traditional foreign trade powerhouses such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong still led.
Central and western regions lead in growth. In the first-eight-month foreign trade rankings of the 14 provinces, the central and western regions performed impressively, especially Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Anhui, which took the top three spots in import-export growth.
Statistics from Nanchang Customs show that Jiangxi's total imports and exports reached 271.12 billion yuan in January-August, up 23.9% year on year, down 2.5 percentage points from the January-July figure and 24.6 percentage points higher than the national average. According to public information from the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics, Jiangxi ranked first in the country in total import-export growth, second in export growth, and third in import growth during the period.
Sichuan's total goods trade imports and exports surpassed 500 billion yuan for the first time in January-August, reaching 514.67 billion yuan, up 22.7% year on year. In particular, it achieved double-digit growth in both imports and exports, with exports reaching 291.56 billion yuan (up 22.7%) and imports reaching 223.11 billion yuan (up 22.6%).
Anhui's foreign trade also showed strong resilience in the first eight months, with total imports and exports reaching 346.41 billion yuan, up 12.2% year on year, narrowing by 1.1 percentage points from the first seven months. Exports were 202.83 billion yuan, up 12.4%, and imports were 143.58 billion yuan, up 12%.
Besides the three leading provinces, Chongqing, Henan, and Hunan also posted solid growth, with year-on-year increases of 10.3%, 9.5%, and 8.4%, respectively. Overall, foreign trade growth in the central and western regions was significantly better than in the eastern region.
Liu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Economic Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told 21st Century Business Herald that the strong performance in central and western regions was due not only to the low base of foreign trade totals, but also to the accelerated transfer of processing trade industries from the eastern coastal areas, making them major carriers of foreign trade.
Data show that the central and western regions achieved notable results in undertaking industrial gradient transfer from the east, with exports up 6.8%—6 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate—and their share rising 1.1 percentage points to 18.6%. As overseas demand from the "stay-at-home economy" continued to grow, provinces represented by Sichuan and Chongqing became major processing trade bases for laptops, smartphones, and other products.
In January-August, Chongqing's laptop exports reached 108.38 billion yuan, up 14.6%; integrated circuit exports were 14.83 billion yuan, up 34.6%; and mobile phone exports were 6.71 billion yuan, up 1.4 times. During the same period, Sichuan's integrated circuit exports reached 63.68 billion yuan, up 25.4%, and its laptop exports reached 69.18 billion yuan, up 28.9%.
In Bai Ming's view, however, the driving force behind the foreign trade development of the central and western regions does not simply come from the relocation of processing trade industries from the east. "In the past, the central and western regions relied more on opening to the east. As demand in traditional oceangoing markets weakened, they seized the opportunity to open to the west through China-Europe freight trains. For the same goods, costs are lower in the central and western regions, so their competitive advantage is greater." After the epidemic struck, global aviation and shipping saw varying degrees of flight bans, suspension, and reduced service, while China-Europe freight trains demonstrated strong transportation advantages, helping accelerate the external-oriented economy of the central and western regions and quickly turning them into production bases for anti-epidemic and daily supplies.
Policy "combination punches" support foreign trade recovery. In terms of total foreign trade volume, traditional provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong still lead.
In the first eight months, Guangdong's foreign trade imports and exports reached 4.39 trillion yuan, down 3.2% year on year, accounting for 21.9% of the national total. Jiangsu's imports and exports totaled 2.82 trillion yuan, down 0.3%, accounting for 14% of the national total.
Although Guangdong and Jiangsu have yet to return to positive growth for the January-August period, both turned positive in August alone. Guangdong's imports and exports reached 653.25 billion yuan in August, up 3.5%, maintaining positive growth for three consecutive months. Jiangsu's imports and exports reached 404.34 billion yuan, up 9.1%, with both imports and exports growing year on year.
Liu Xiangdong said the continued recovery in major foreign trade provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong was mainly because, although the global epidemic was still ongoing, its peak had passed and global orders were beginning to pick up. Demand from European and American economies was the first to drive the recovery of foreign trade orders in coastal provinces.
In Bai Ming's view, the recent introduction of multiple policies to stabilize foreign trade at home is another key factor driving the continued recovery of major foreign trade provinces. Among local policies to stabilize foreign investment and trade, many include measures such as increasing fiscal, tax, and financial support, developing new forms and models of trade, and actively promoting the shift of foreign trade products to the domestic market. Because of these policies, foreign trade companies have gained a sense of benefit and the confidence to actively explore markets.
"The central and local policies are clearly aimed at reducing burdens for foreign trade enterprises, especially private companies. Private enterprises are usually more sensitive to the market and better able to perceive changes early and respond flexibly. Today, the total imports and exports of private enterprises are close to half of China's foreign trade, playing an important 'stabilizer' role," Bai said.
Taking Guangdong as an example, to address practical difficulties for processing trade enterprises hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, the Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs, together with customs offices in the province, launched eight working measures to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, including deferring tax interest, clarifying the scope of guarantee exemption, and simplifying extension procedures, to help processing trade enterprises fully leverage both international and domestic markets.
As a result, Kingfa Technology Co., Ltd. (16.850, 0.28, 1.69%) is expected to receive about 300 million yuan in exemption from risk guarantee deposits for all outsourced processes through the "sales first, tax later" model, and is allowed to handle domestic sales procedures quarterly while being temporarily exempted from interest on deferred domestic sales tax.
Song Ziqiang, a person in charge of Kingfa Technology, told 21st Century Business Herald that from January to July this year, the company's processing trade import and export value was about 1.616 billion yuan, and domestic sales tax collection was 24.81 million yuan, up 5.2 times year on year, greatly reducing operating costs and capital occupation.
21st Century Business Herald reporters also noted that anti-epidemic supplies played an important role in the import-export recovery of traditional foreign trade provinces.
According to Guangdong customs analysis, overseas epidemic prevention and control remains severe and complex, and demand for medical and anti-epidemic supplies is still strong, which will provide solid support for Guangdong's exports in the short term. In August, Guangdong's textile exports including masks rose 194.8%, medical device exports rose 28.4%, and pharmaceutical exports rose 3.5%.
In Jiangsu, exports of textile products including masks reached 68.02 billion yuan in the first eight months, up 60.2%; exports of medicinal materials and medicines reached 15.03 billion yuan, up 9.8%; and exports of medical instruments and devices reached 13.81 billion yuan, up 45.2%.
Anti-epidemic supplies also remain an important component of Zhejiang's exports. In the first eight months, combined exports of masks, protective clothing, infrared thermometers, and goggles totaled 60.5 billion yuan, accounting for 3.8% of the province's total exports during the period.