On July 16, Chengdu Customs announced the foreign trade situation in the first half of this year. Statistics show that in the first half of the year, the total import and export value of Sichuan's goods trade was 365.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%, compared with the national import and export decline of 3.2% in the same period, Sichuan's foreign trade rose against the trend.

 

Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, foreign trade imports and exports were once under pressure. In this context, Sichuan’s foreign trade has withstood the pressure and increased month by month, and the growth rate once ranked second in the country. How did this foreign trade "transcript" come from? The reporter started the interview.

 

stable

 

Industrial agglomeration and diversification strategy, the “ballast stone” of Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone plays an obvious role

 

At the press conference, a set of data was eye-catching: In the first half of the year, the import and export of Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone was 248.91 billion yuan, accounting for 68% of the province's total foreign trade in the first half of the year, and contributing up to 84.7% of the province's foreign trade growth. This is the first consecutive month that the import and export volume of the Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone has ranked first among the national comprehensive bonded areas.

 

"The province's foreign trade looks at Chengdu, and Chengdu's foreign trade looks at the High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone. It can be said that the Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone played a very obvious role as a'ballast stone' in stabilizing the province's foreign trade in the first half of the year." The relevant person in charge analyzed that the products of some large foreign-funded enterprises in Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone are irreplaceable. These enterprises can adjust production capacity on a global scale and can effectively deal with the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on foreign trade.

 

From the perspective of industrial structure, since the closure of customs operations in 2011, Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone has actively undertaken industrial transfers. It has attracted a large number of Fortune 500 companies such as Intel, Compal, and Wistron to gradually realize electronic information, aerospace, and Industry clusters represented by industries such as pharmaceutical technology. In the first half of the year, the high-tech comprehensive protection zone achieved imports and exports of 146.24 billion yuan only for integrated circuits, a year-on-year increase of 33.3%, which contributed to the stabilization of foreign trade.

 

"Adhering to the diversified market strategy has also achieved results." Pan Xudong, Director of the Statistics Department of Chengdu Customs, believes that for a long time, the main foreign trade markets of Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone have been developed countries such as the United States and the European Union, but with the advancement of the "One Belt One Road" initiative , The foreign trade market is gradually diversified, "exploring the ASEAN market is typical. The high-tech comprehensive protection zone's import and export to ASEAN in the first half of the year was 60.54 billion yuan, an increase of 42% year-on-year, which was much higher than the average growth rate of the region's import and export during the same period."

 

new

 

Processing trade is still the absolute main force, and market procurement and cross-border e-commerce have sprung up

 

On July 12, a special market purchase trade train loaded with printer accessories, hand tools, LED lights and other products with a total value of 4.46 million US dollars cleared the Qingbaijiang Customs and sailed to the destination Hungary through the Alashankou port. From reporting, inspection to customs clearance, this special train only took one day.

 

This new trade method is injecting new momentum into import and export. From the perspective of trade structure, in the first half of the year, Sichuan Province used processing trade to import and export 231.5 billion yuan, accounting for 63.3% of the total foreign trade value in the same period, and it was still the absolute main force. However, the press conference revealed that in the first half of the year, Sichuan Province exported 2.23 billion yuan through market procurement trade, an increase of 26.9 times.

 

"Market procurement trade refers to the export of goods purchased by qualified business operators in the market agglomeration area recognized by the national commercial authority and the value of a single-ticket declaration form is less than 150,000 US dollars (inclusive) and is processed at the place of purchase Customs clearance procedures." said Yang Jianmin, director of the Chengdu Jinniu District Market Purchasing Trade Service Center. This kind of foreign trade orders are small and miscellaneous, exempt from value-added tax, flexible settlement, and convenient customs clearance, allowing individual businesses to directly participate in foreign trade.

 

Affected by the epidemic, cross-border e-commerce has "emerged suddenly." The press conference revealed that in the first half of the year, Sichuan’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports amounted to 580 million yuan, an increase of 85.6%. Take Chengdu International Railway Port as an example. In the first half of the year, the port’s cross-border e-commerce transaction volume totaled 1.76 million, a year-on-year increase of 970%, showing an explosive growth trend. "The epidemic has caused many countries to close sea and air transportation. The China-Europe Express (Chengdu) has been highlighted by its comprehensive advantages in transportation and trade." said Zeng Yi, director of the International Railway Port Management Committee of the Qingbaijiang District of Chengdu.

 

"There were tens of thousands of cross-border e-commerce orders stranded during the Spring Festival due to the epidemic. After Chengdu International Railway Port opened up the cross-border direct mail export process, it quickly eased the pressure on the accumulated orders." said Yang Zihang, general manager of Chengdu Maibang E-commerce Co., Ltd. Cross-border direct mail exports have allowed more domestic small commodities to be sold abroad, and Chengdu Customs has assisted in rapid customs clearance through the "green channel", and many cross-border e-commerce companies have seen rapid business growth.

 

foot

 

A number of real gold and silver policies stabilize confidence, cultivate transformation and upgrade bases to support steady development

 

Not long ago, 50,000 new coronary pneumonia nucleic acid test kits produced by Sichuan New Health Biotech Co., Ltd. were delivered to Germany by air after the customs declaration was completed at Chengdu Customs. "From storage to customs clearance, this batch of kits only waited 5 days." said Lin Yuan, general manager of Xinkangcheng.

 

For the first time to open up the foreign trade market, Lin Yuan felt that the convenience came from a favorable policy: At the end of April this year, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs implemented a special export channel "whitelist" system for the export of pharmaceutical products. Subsequently, the Provincial Department of Commerce coordinated the guidance of relevant departments The enterprises fill in the information and include a batch of high-quality enterprises such as New HealthCheng into the "white list". "For companies on the list, we will arrange special personnel to connect with them, and pay close attention to their export needs; under the premise of controllable biosafety, the quarantine approval application form will be submitted and inspected, and the quarantine approval application will be inspected and released quickly with zero delay." Chengdu Customs is responsible People introduced.

 

This is just a microcosm of the various safeguard measures for Sichuan Province to stabilize foreign trade under the impact of the epidemic. In the first half of the year, Sichuan Province successively issued policies and measures such as the "Notice on Supporting the Nine Measures for Foreign Economic and Trade Enterprises to Respond to the Epidemic and Stabilizing Foreign Trade Development", and the "Notice on the Development of Financial Support for the Joint Operation of Sichuan Foreign Economic and Trade Enterprises to Resume Work and Production". Logistics fee reduction, legal relief and other aspects have helped foreign trade companies. "Not only does it provide benefits for real money and silver policies, but it also helps enterprises build confidence in overcoming difficulties," said Li Yuguo, director of the Provincial Institute of International Economics and Trade.

 

Measures to stabilize foreign trade continue to advance. Recently, 9 departments including the Provincial Department of Commerce, the Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, and the Provincial Department of Finance jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Sichuan’s Foreign Trade Transformation and Upgrading Base (2020-2025)", and proposed that by 2025, the provincial level should be cultivated. There are 40 foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, making them an important support for the steady development of foreign trade in the province. "The first batch of 15 bases are currently being evaluated and cultivated, and the finance is expected to provide relevant special support." The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Department of Commerce revealed. (Reporter Luo Zhifan)