Foreign trade's "good start" highlights economic resilience (commentator observation)
——Looking at Confidence from the New Year's Economic Highlights ①
Establishing a solid foundation at the beginning is crucial for the smooth progress of work throughout the year. From January to February this year, the performance of the national economy showed that all major indicators were better than expected, and positive factors continued to accumulate and increase. Starting today, this version will launch a series of comments analyzing new economic drivers and highlights, injecting confidence into promoting high-quality economic and social development, and consolidating strength to achieve the annual economic and social development goals.
——Editor
Against the backdrop of rising trade protectionism and unilateralism, China's export growth rate has returned to double digits, fully reflecting the international competitiveness of China's foreign trade and demonstrating the strong resilience of China's economy
How are foreign trade orders this year? At the Yiwu International Trade City in Zhejiang, you can visually see signs of foreign investment returning and trade rebounding. "The number of orders has significantly increased." A toy factory manager said that as of mid March, they have received orders worth over 4 million yuan, an increase of more than 20% year-on-year. The factory is working overtime to expedite the production of orders. From January to February this year, the total import and export value of Yiwu City increased by 47.3% year-on-year.
Not only in Yiwu, China's overall foreign trade has achieved a good start this year. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first two months of 2024, China's total import and export value of goods trade increased by 8.7% year-on-year, setting a new record for the same period in history. The growth rate accelerated by about 7 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Among them, exports increased by 10.3% year-on-year, and the growth rate has returned to double digits since April last year. Confirmed by the growth of foreign trade data, the port is bustling. The container throughput of Ningbo Zhoushan Port increased by over 15%, while the container throughput of Shenzhen Port increased by 23.5%. The opening performance of foreign trade this year exceeded market expectations and effectively boosted market confidence.
This "transcript" is hard won. Currently, the world economy lacks growth momentum and demand weakens, and international trade and investment growth still faces significant downward pressure. Against the backdrop of rising trade protectionism and unilateralism, China's export growth rate has returned to double digits, fully reflecting the international competitiveness of China's foreign trade and demonstrating the strong resilience of China's economy.
The stabilization and improvement of foreign trade is not only reflected in the steady growth of scale, but also in the improvement of quality. From the perspective of business entities, both private and state-owned enterprises have seen growth in their import and export performance, and their vitality has further recovered. As the largest foreign trade operation entity in China, private enterprises had an import and export volume of 3.61 trillion yuan in the first two months of this year, an increase of 17.7%. From the perspective of product value, exported goods are climbing upstream in the value chain, and domestic trendy brands such as electric vehicles, cultural and creative products, and beauty products are booming overseas. New forms and models of foreign trade have strong momentum, and cross-border e-commerce and market procurement exports have achieved double-digit growth. From the perspective of market layout, trading partners are more diverse and stable, trade relations with emerging markets are closer, and growth space is further expanded. Among them, the import and export of countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" increased by 9%, higher than the overall level. Thanks to a series of policies and measures to promote industrial upgrading and stabilize foreign trade, the industrial foundation, factor endowment, and innovation ability of China's foreign trade development have been continuously enhanced, laying a more solid foundation for high-quality development of foreign trade.
It should also be noted that the current external environment is still severe and complex, and foreign trade still faces some difficulties and uncertainties. To achieve the goal of stable quality and quantity throughout the year, arduous efforts are still needed. On the basis of stabilizing the basic situation of foreign trade, we should promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial and supply chains, expand intermediate goods trade, support enterprises in exploring diversified markets, and continuously seek new growth points. Among them, high-quality, high-tech, and high value-added green low-carbon products are potential trade categories. At the same time, the "policy package" of improving trade facilitation, helping enterprises reduce burdens and fees, and optimizing the port business environment still needs to continue to release dividends, thereby further stimulating micro vitality and cross-border flow activity. By improving our internal skills, continuously enhancing our own strength, strengthening cooperation, creating greater room for maneuver, optimizing the environment, and providing more trade facilitation, we are sure to maintain a good momentum and take the initiative in fierce international competition.
Foreign trade is an important component of China's open economy and a key hub for smooth domestic and international circulation. This year's Government Work Report proposes to "promote the improvement of quality and stability of foreign trade." From the development momentum at the beginning of the year, China's foreign trade has shown strong resilience and also released new potential. Based on the current new situation and changes, more targeted policy measures will be introduced to form a joint force to promote high-quality development of foreign trade, which will surely continue the good momentum throughout the year and provide stronger support for the economic recovery.
