The State Council Information Office held a press conference at 10 a.m. on July 14, 2020. Li Kuiwen, a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs (GACC) and the director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, introduced the import and export situation in the first half of 2020 and answered questions from reporters.
Li reported that since the beginning of this year, foreign trade imports and exports are better than expected. According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, Chinese total value of import & export goods was 14.24 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%, a decrease of 1.7% from the previous five months. Among them, exports were 7.71 trillion yuan, down 3%; imports were 6.53 trillion yuan, down 3.3%. Specifically, in the first half of this year, Chinese imports and exports mainly have the following seven characteristics:
1. Overseas trade imports and exports in the first half of the year were better than expected. Both exports and imports achieved growth in June.
2. The import and export of private enterprises are growing against the trend, and their role in the steady growth of foreign trade is more prominent.
3. ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner.
4. The proportion of imports and exports in general trade has increased, and the structure of trade modes has been continuously optimized.
5. The import and export of the central and western regions maintained growth, and the domestic regional distribution became more balanced.
6. The export of epidemic prevention materials and "house economy" products grew rapidly, and the decline in exports of electromechanical products and labor-intensive products was lower than the overall decline.
7. The import and export freight volume increased, and the import volume of major commodities and key agricultural products increased.
Li also answered the reporters’ questions.
He pointed out that in the first half of the year, although Chinese overseas trade imports and exports fell by 3.2%, the overall import and export have gradually stabilized. For the trend of overseas trade in the second half of the year, according to the latest forecast of the International Monetary Fund, the world economy will have a decline of 4.9%, the World Bank predicts that the global economy will decline by 5.2%, the worst economic recession since World War II. The World Trade Organization also expects global trade in goods to decline by 13% to 32%, and UNCTAD is expected to decline by 20%. Chinese import and export situation in the second half of the year remains complex and grim.
According to Li’s response, The General Administration of Customs will strongly support the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
Besides, because the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Upgrade Protocol has come into full effect, and agricultural trade with ASEAN has grown rapidly, ASEAN replaced the European Union and became China's largest trading partner.
China will take some methods, such as promoting the development of China-Europe trains, strengthen cooperation in epidemic response and promoting international cooperation in customs, to promote the “Belt and Road” high-quality development.
about the import of bulk commodities, Li noticed that from January to June, China imported 174 million tons of coal, an increase of 12.7%. Customs will continue to optimize the customs clearance environment, and continue to make our contribution to improving the convenience of trade in the import of bulk commodities.
For cross-border e-commerce, according to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, imports and exports of customs cross-border e-commerce supervision platforms increased by 26.2%, of which exports increased by 28.7% and imports increased by 24.4%. Customs adheres to the concept of "tolerance, prudence, innovation and coordination", constantly optimizes the supervision system, improves the cross-border e-commerce statistical system, and actively supports the orderly development of new trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce. The customs have mainly implemented three reform measures:
1. Comprehensively promote the supervision measures for the return of cross-border e-commerce export goods.
2. Conduct cross-border e-commerce business-to-business, which is called B2B export pilot.
3. Continue to take the initiative to work together with the World Customs Organization and other international organizations to study and optimize cross-border e-commerce world trade rules, and further strengthen cooperation with the UPU, customs of other countries and regions on multilateral data sharing, and jointly build high-quality global-oriented Cross-border e-commerce delivery service network.
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