Foreign trade presents these new characteristics!

The COVID-19 epidemic has had a great impact on the world economy and international trade. In the face of unfavorable situations, my country has increased its policy support to guide enterprises to practice their internal skills and seek opportunities in crisis, strive to overcome the impact of the epidemic, and stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, my country's foreign trade exports and imports both achieved positive growth in June this year, and continued to grow in July.

At present, what are the characteristics of my country's foreign trade development? In the next step, how will the customs further promote the stability and quality of foreign trade? The following is about the visit of Ni Yuefeng, Director of the General Administration of Customs.


The overall performance of my country's foreign trade is better than market expectations

Reporter: The new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out suddenly and global trade was hit hard, but the overall performance of my country's foreign trade was better than market expectations. What is the main reason? What are the main characteristics of our current foreign trade?

Ni Yuefeng: Since the beginning of this year, the overall performance of China’s foreign trade has been better than market expectations. In particular, imports and exports both achieved positive growth in June and continued to grow in July. This is the result of the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core. It also fully reflects the strong resilience of our country's economy.

The share of exports in the international market rose steadily. This year, although the "cake" of the international trade market has become smaller, China's market share has increased. The export share in the first four months has increased by 0.1% year-on-year, which fully shows that China's foreign trade resistance and competitiveness are constantly improving. .

"One Belt One Road" has become an important growth point. In the first half of the year, the growth rate of my country's trade with countries along the “Belt and Road” was 2.3 percentage points higher than that of the country, and the proportion of foreign trade in the country increased by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.

The performance of private enterprises is eye-catching. my country took the lead in controlling the domestic epidemic and resuming work and production. More than 440,000 foreign trade companies maintained normal import and export, an increase of 22,000 over the same period last year. As my country's largest foreign trade entity, private enterprises have played an important role in driving the growth of foreign trade. In the first 7 months, the import and export of private enterprises was 7.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.2%, which became a beautiful landscape.

New business formats such as cross-border e-commerce are booming. In the first half of the year, the total import and export value of online cross-border e-commerce transactions exceeded 600 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7%, which was significantly higher than the overall import and export growth rate in the same period. New business formats such as cross-border e-commerce are constantly accumulating new momentum for foreign trade development.


Do a good job of "six stability" and "six guarantees"
Stabilize the basic foreign trade

Reporter: What is the focus of the work of the General Administration of Customs to further promote the stability and quality of foreign trade?

Ni Yuefeng: The General Administration of Customs will do a solid job of "six stability", fully implement the "six guarantees" task, strengthen supervision and optimization services, and work from four aspects to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and promote foreign trade to promote stability and quality.

One is to optimize the business environment at ports. In recent years, the General Administration of Customs has vigorously promoted the optimization of the port business environment. The original 86 types of regulatory documents have been streamlined to 44 types. In June this year, the overall customs clearance time for imports and exports in China was reduced by 59.3% and 81.5% compared with 2017, and the cost of customs clearance was significantly reduced. The international ranking of China's cross-border trade indicators has increased significantly.

In the future, we will further promote the "advance declaration" and "two-step declaration". During the epidemic prevention and control period, the customs adopted good practices such as the establishment of "green channels" and "zero delay" inspection and release. At the same time, we must also vigorously promote the certified mutual recognition system for operators, this system can enable enterprises to enjoy the same customs clearance convenience as domestic ones, and reduce logistics costs by more than 10%.

The second is to support the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port. In accordance with the highest international standards and the best level, Yangpu took the lead in implementing a regulatory innovation system featuring liberalization at the first line, management by the second line, and freedom in the region. We will promptly introduce a free trade port layout plan to lay a solid foundation for the island's customs closure operation. Formulate and implement “zero-tariff” equipment, transportation tools and other policy supporting supervision measures to promote early harvest policies to be effective as soon as possible.

The third is to promote the development of comprehensive bonded zones. Strengthen policy implementation and publicity, guide more companies and better projects to enter the zone, and make good use of the comprehensive bonded zone policy; at the same time, support eligible central and western regions and national-level new zones, development zones, and high-tech zones to establish comprehensive insurance In the zone, the comprehensive protection zone will further play its role as an important economic growth platform for stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment.

The fourth is to strongly support cross-border e-commerce. Online shopping and "haitao" have become more and more important ways of consumption for ordinary people. The General Administration of Customs has successively introduced cross-border e-commerce return policies and cross-border e-commerce business-to-business (B2B) export supervision reform measures, so that cross-border e-commerce products can be imported, exported, and returned.

In the next step, we will continue to optimize the reform of the cross-border e-commerce supervision model, focusing on supporting companies to set up overseas warehouses and carry out bulk export business, reduce corporate logistics costs, increase the speed of goods delivery, improve consumer shopping experience, and promote cross-border e-commerce in China." Buy the world, sell the world".

In addition, in the first half of the year, the number of China-Europe freight trains increased by 36% year-on-year. The Customs will continue to improve the facilitation of customs clearance at railway ports and serve the safe, stable and high-quality development of China-Europe Express.


Fully support the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port
Promote the high-level opening of comprehensive insurance zones

Reporter: In order to support the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, what policies and measures have the customs issued? What are the institutional innovations?

Ni Yuefeng: Building a free trade port with Chinese characteristics in Hainan is a strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee focusing on the overall domestic and international situations. The General Administration of Customs adheres to the principle of "controllable and liberalized", benchmarking against the highest international standards and best standards, and fully supports the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port. At present, the following three aspects are mainly done:

First, in accordance with the actual conditions of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the "Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Yangpu Bonded Port Area Supervision Measures" is the first to implement the innovative management system of first-line deregulation and second-line management in the Yangpu Free Trade Port area, and is the first to try processing The preferential policy of 30% value-added tariff exemption is the first to implement a series of measures conducive to trade facilitation and liberalization, and to explore and accumulate experience for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port.

The second is to adjust and promulgate the "Regulations of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Supervision of Hainan's Outlying Island Tourists on Duty-Free Shopping" in order to coordinate with the outlying island duty-free policy.

The third is to issue the "Announcement of the General Administration of Customs on Adjusting the Management Matters Concerning Hainan's Entry and Exit Yachts", exempting self-driving entry yachts from guarantees, reducing costs, and supporting the construction of Hainan International Tourism Consumption Center.

In the next step, the General Administration of Customs will focus on the construction of special customs supervision areas with international competitiveness and influence, actively carry out customs supervision integration innovation, organize and promote Hainan Province and relevant departments to study and formulate the "Hainan Free Trade Port and Shore Layout Plan", which is for freedom. A good foundation has been laid for the island-wide customs operation of the trading port.

Reporter: In recent years, the comprehensive bonded area has gradually become a new highland for my country's opening up. What important role does the comprehensive protection zone play in promoting high-level openness and high-quality development?

Ni Yuefeng: At the beginning of last year, the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the High-Level Opening and High-quality Development of Comprehensive Bonded Zones", proposing to promote the development of comprehensive bonded areas into high-end manufacturing centers, R&D and design centers, logistics centers with global influence and competitiveness. The “Five Centers” such as the Allocation Center, Inspection and Maintenance Center, and Sales and Service Center, and 21 policies and measures have been proposed. Over the past year or so, the role of the comprehensive protection zone has been obvious, mainly reflected in the following three aspects:

The first is to become a new engine driving the growth of foreign trade. In the first half of this year, the import and export value of the National Comprehensive Bonded Zone was 1.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.2%, 16.4 percentage points higher than the national foreign trade increase in the same period, and accounting for 9.97% of the national foreign trade import and export value during the same period.

The second is to become an important platform for my country to attract foreign investment. In the first half of the year, the import and export value of foreign-invested enterprises in the comprehensive protection zone was 964.87 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%, accounting for 68.9% of the total import and export value of the comprehensive protection zone.

The third is to promote the opening and development of the central and western regions. For example, Sichuan Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone has an import and export value of 433 billion yuan in 2019, ranking first in the national comprehensive bonded zone, an increase of 23% year-on-year, and accounting for 64% of the province's foreign trade imports and exports.

In the next step, the General Administration of Customs will continue to play a leading role in the comprehensive protection zone, actively carry out research and guidance and policy publicity, especially increase policy publicity to enterprises outside the zone, and guide more companies and better projects to enter the zone. , To play a greater role in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment.


Support export products for domestic sales
Let foreign trade companies have a broader development space

Reporter: The epidemic is still spreading globally, and many foreign trade companies in my country are paying more attention to export to domestic sales. What work has the customs done in supporting the transfer of exports to domestic sales?

Ni Yuefeng: Since the beginning of this year, affected by the epidemic, the global market has shrunk and orders for processing trade companies have decreased. Many foreign trade companies have paid more attention to exporting to domestic sales. To this end, the General Administration of Customs has further relaxed the domestic sales restrictions for processing trade enterprises.

The first is to issue the "Announcement on the Temporary Exemption of Interests on Domestic Sales of Processing Trade Goods". From April 15, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the domestic sales of processing trade goods will be temporarily exempt from the domestic sales deferred tax from April 15, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Interest, earnestly support the development of processing trade, and ease the difficulties of enterprises.

The second is to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation to issue the "Announcement on Expanding the Pilot Program of Selective Tariff Collection for Domestic Sales" to extend the selective tariff collection policy to all comprehensive bonded areas.

The third is to issue the "Announcement on Adjusting the Time Limits for Processing Trade Declaration and Tax Payment" to further relax the domestic sales tax time limit and allow qualified processing trade enterprises to complete the tax declaration procedures within 15 days after the end of the quarter.

For a long time, processing trade has been mainly in the form of "two ends outside", and the proportion of domestic sales is relatively small. In the first half of this year, the value of domestic sales of processing trade accounted for only about 12% of the import value of processing trade, which is in line with China's huge processing capacity and market. Compared with the scale, there is still much room for improvement.

Supporting the transfer of export products to domestic sales will provide a broader space for development of foreign trade enterprises and smoother operation of the industrial chain supply chain, which is conducive to promoting stability and quality improvement of my country's foreign trade import and export. The General Administration of Customs will continue to vigorously promote the domestic sales of processing trade, and support processing trade enterprises to open up and make good use of the domestic and international markets.