The latest foreign trade performance report shows that China's total import and export value in 2023 was RMB 41.76 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%, better than expected and achieving the goal of promoting stability and improving quality. Foreign trade is one of the "three carriages" driving economic growth, and as the first important economic indicator released for the whole year, foreign trade data has attracted much attention.
Industry insiders say that in the context of weak global economic recovery and relatively sluggish global trade performance, China's steady increase in import and export scale and improvement in development quality have boosted overall confidence. At the same time, as the economic situation continues to improve and policies continue to strengthen, new growth points such as the "new three types", emerging markets, and new formats will be further cultivated and strengthened, which will accumulate more momentum for stabilizing and improving foreign trade.
According to customs statistics, China's exports reached 23.77 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 0.6%. Regarding this, Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs, stated that from a numerical perspective, the export growth rate has indeed slowed down compared to previous years. But it is even more important to see that China's exports have reached new highs on a high base, not only achieving reasonable growth in quantity, but also maintaining overall stability in market share.
According to the latest data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is expected that China's international market share of exports will remain at a relatively high level of around 14% in 2023.
Zhuang Rui, Executive Dean of the Institute of International Economics at the University of International Business and Economics, summarized China's performance in foreign trade by "forging ahead" in an interview with Economic Reference News. She analyzed that in 2023, China's foreign trade overcame numerous impacts and achieved positive growth, while maintaining a high global export share, which was not easy. Even more difficult is to continuously optimize the structure while maintaining a stable and increasing scale.
Looking at the 2023 foreign trade transcript, multiple highlights highlight the positive development trend of China's foreign trade. From the perspective of product structure, in 2023, the total export of "new three types" products reached 1.06 trillion yuan, breaking through the trillion yuan mark for the first time, with a growth rate of 29.9%; From the perspective of business formats, preliminary statistics show that in 2023, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export reached 2.38 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.6%; From the perspective of entities, the number of foreign trade entities with import and export performance in China has reached 645000, setting a new historical high; From the market point of view, the trade partners are diversified and make progress together. In 2023, China's import and export to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" will be 19.47 trillion yuan, accounting for 46.6% of the total import and export value, an increase of 1.2 percentage points, and its import and export to Latin America and Africa will increase by 6.8% and 7.1% respectively.
"From this, we can see the resilience and solid foundation of China's foreign trade, which is backed by the country's continuous promotion of foreign trade innovation and development, support for enterprises to explore diverse international markets, cultivate new business models and models, and strengthen the research and development of new tracks and products, accumulating new competitive advantages." Zhuang Rui said.
The Oriental Jincheng Research Report also believes that against the backdrop of weak external demand, China's export share remains high in 2023, indicating that China's export competitiveness continues to lead the world. The transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry are shaping new export momentum.
"China's new energy vehicles have seen rapid growth overseas, achieving a 'curve overtaking' in the industrial chain, technology, and other aspects. At Alibaba International Station, new energy passenger vehicles, golf carts, electric motorcycles, and electric tricycles have become popular categories, and the growth is still ongoing." The person in charge of Alibaba International Station told reporters, for example, the sales of intelligent driving electric vehicles made in China have increased by 97% year-on-year in the past year.
The new momentum has become a strong support for China's foreign trade to cope with uncertainty and a key policy support. At the end of 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to "accelerate the cultivation of new momentum in foreign trade, consolidate the basic foundation of foreign trade and foreign investment, expand intermediate goods trade, service trade, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports."
The relevant departments have been intensifying their deployment, including expanding cross-border e-commerce exports and continuously improving policies in customs clearance, taxation, foreign exchange, and other areas; Support cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, industry organizations and enterprises to actively participate in the "Silk Road E-commerce" and jointly build the "the Belt and Road" economic and trade cooperation; Promoting the digitization and greening of trade has become a deployment direction.
"The Ministry of Commerce will continue to implement various stable foreign trade policies that have been introduced in collaboration with local departments. At the same time, in response to new situations and tasks, we will study and reserve new policy measures, timely promote the introduction, and help foreign trade enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency." Li Xingqian, Director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said in a media interview recently.
With the strengthening of policies and the accumulation of advantages, the confidence of foreign trade enterprises has also been further enhanced. Recently, the survey results of customs on key import and export enterprises show that more than three-quarters of enterprises expect their imports and exports to remain stable or increase in 2024.
The Oriental Jincheng Research Daily pointed out that in 2024, the "new three kinds" of exports are still expected to maintain rapid growth, while China's imports and exports in emerging markets such as countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" will further expand. "This means that China's foreign trade products and market structure will be further optimized, and its ability to resist external shocks will be enhanced."
Looking ahead to the future, Zhuang Rui believes that with the support of multiple policies to cultivate new momentum in foreign trade, and the continuous promotion of high-level opening up to the outside world, bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation will also usher in broader development space. "These will become strong support for stabilizing the total volume and improving the quality of China's foreign trade in 2024 and beyond. China's foreign trade is expected to achieve higher quality development in the direction of 'new'."
